Buenos Aires, March 17 (NA) – The identity of the urban artist known as Banksy is one of the most persistent mysteries of contemporary art. Although now that enigma seems to have taken a decisive turn: an investigation by Reuters identified the graffiti artist as Robin Gunningham, born in Bristol in 1973, who would have also used the name David Jones to manage his fortune and artistic rights. The finding not only points to answering a long-held mystery, but also reopens questions about the sense of anonymity in contemporary visual culture, a strategy that the artist himself turned into an essential part of his work and his positioning in the market.
Before the Reuters investigation, Banksy's identity had already been the subject of multiple inquiries. In April 2025, Spanish detective Francisco Marco assured the newspaper El Mundo that the artist was also Gunningham, whom he placed with a birth date of July 28, 1974. Marco, director of the Método 3 agency, embarked on his own investigation from a challenge posed by his children, which led to a tracking of personal data, family ties, and movements of the supposed author.
According to that work, Gunningham married in Las Vegas in 2006 to Joy Charlotte Millward, a former activist, and is the father of a girl. Despite having accumulated a considerable fortune, the couple would maintain middle-class living habits, far from the ostentation associated with the artist's global success.
The most recent investigation deepens that line. Reuters' journalistic team traveled through different territories to collect direct testimonies, analyzed recordings, and meticulously followed Gunningham's movements. According to the agency, the elements gathered allow for establishing a consistent correspondence between that identity and the public interventions attributed to Banksy, a conclusion that was replicated by numerous international media after the report was published.
One of the key data already pointed out by Marco — and taken up in the new investigations — is the use of the alias “David Jones”, a name that coincides with that of David Bowie. Under that identity, Gunningham would have structured a network of companies dedicated to the authentication, commercialization, and protection of his works.
Among them stand out Pest Control Office Ltd, considered the central firm to certify original pieces, and Pictures on Walls Ltd, responsible for the distribution of serigraphs and limited editions.
In a scenario where the figure of the author is constantly diluted and reconstructed, Banksy — whether or not he is Gunningham — continues to operate on the boundary between visibility and concealment, challenging the rules of the system that consecrated him.
This business structure reinforces the paradoxical dimension of the phenomenon: an artist who built his myth on anonymity, but at the same time developed a precise structure to sustain his presence in the global market. The possible confirmation of his identity does not close the mystery, but transforms it.
