WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.500 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today we are taking 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:05.799 on, well, a massive challenge. A huge one. We're 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:08.460 diving deep into the career of maybe the single 00:00:08.460 --> 00:00:11.779 most famous yet least known figure in contemporary 00:00:11.779 --> 00:00:15.140 art. Has to be. The pseudonymous England -based 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:17.760 street artist, political activist, and filmmaker 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:23.199 the world knows simply. It's a truly unique assignment 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:26.320 for us, you know, because we're trying to piece 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:28.699 together the story of a subject whose entire 00:00:28.699 --> 00:00:32.310 existence is just. It's defined by speculation, 00:00:32.310 --> 00:00:34.609 by contradiction. I mean, his identity is the 00:00:34.609 --> 00:00:36.770 art world's greatest secret. It's constantly 00:00:36.770 --> 00:00:38.710 being debated. But at the same time, his works 00:00:38.710 --> 00:00:42.009 command this just staggering global attention 00:00:42.009 --> 00:00:44.229 and wealth. And the sources we've gathered give 00:00:44.229 --> 00:00:47.049 us this incredible roadmap. They detail his timeline 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:49.490 from his graffiti roots in the Bristol Underground 00:00:49.490 --> 00:00:52.090 scene all the way to becoming a master of global, 00:00:52.229 --> 00:00:55.030 large -scale political provocation. Our mission 00:00:55.030 --> 00:00:57.609 isn't just to list his greatest hits. We want 00:00:57.609 --> 00:00:59.950 to track his technical shift. We want to analyze 00:00:59.950 --> 00:01:02.329 that. that enduring identity mystery, and really 00:01:02.329 --> 00:01:05.049 try to figure out the exact mechanisms he uses 00:01:05.049 --> 00:01:07.609 to stay relevant and critique the very system 00:01:07.609 --> 00:01:10.849 that, ironically, fuels his own fame. Exactly. 00:01:10.989 --> 00:01:13.109 We have to go beyond just the viral moments. 00:01:13.209 --> 00:01:15.969 The real puzzle is, what does it mean for an 00:01:15.969 --> 00:01:18.010 artist to be world famous when their name and 00:01:18.010 --> 00:01:20.069 face are completely unknown and their works are 00:01:20.069 --> 00:01:22.709 valued in the millions? How does an act of vandalism 00:01:22.709 --> 00:01:25.450 turn a crumbling brick wall into a blue chip 00:01:25.450 --> 00:01:28.370 asset overnight? And maybe the most critical 00:01:28.370 --> 00:01:31.459 moment of his career. We need to understand the 00:01:31.459 --> 00:01:34.140 philosophy, the why, behind this artist intentionally 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:36.760 trying to destroy one of his most expensive pieces 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:39.640 in the middle of a live auction. That's the depth 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.019 we're aiming for today. That's our mission. So 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:43.420 let's start right at the beginning of this ghost 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:45.780 story. Okay, so we don't have an official portrait, 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:49.099 but we do have some vintage reporting that gives 00:01:49.099 --> 00:01:51.459 us the closest description we've ever really 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:53.640 gotten. Yeah, this goes all the way back to a 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:56.260 2003 interview Simon Hattonstone did for The 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:58.299 Guardian. And this is before the global fame, 00:01:58.379 --> 00:02:00.599 really. So let's unpack this profile. What did 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:04.040 the journalist actually see? That 2003 description 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:06.579 is so crucial because it gives us a baseline. 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:09.680 The journalist noted Banksy was, and I'm quoting 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:13.719 here, white, 28, scruffy casual jeans, T -shirt, 00:02:13.939 --> 00:02:16.719 a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring. 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:19.879 It paints a picture. Not some bohemian studio 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:22.800 artist, but someone really connected to the underground 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.319 music and club scene. Oh, absolutely. And in 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:28.180 a very specific cultural observation, the journalist 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:31.240 compared his look to a cross between Jimmy Nail 00:02:31.240 --> 00:02:33.680 and Mike Skinner of The Streets. And for anyone 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:35.939 who might not get those British cultural references, 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:39.139 that comparison suggests a persona that is, you 00:02:39.139 --> 00:02:41.180 know, working class, a little bit rough around 00:02:41.180 --> 00:02:43.400 the edges. A little intimidating. Yeah. And definitely 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:46.060 rooted in UK urban culture, not the high art 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:48.699 world. This lines up perfectly with the geography 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:51.000 we have confirmed, right? The geography is non 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:53.500 -negotiable. His roots are just firmly planted 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:56.460 in the UK, specifically Bristol. The sources 00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:58.520 confirm he reportedly lived in Easton, Bristol 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:00.900 throughout the late 90s. And that city was critical. 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:04.360 It was everything. His career grew out of that 00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:07.199 incredibly vibrant Bristol underground scene, 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:10.919 which was a total petri dish of creative collaboration 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:14.219 between artists and musicians. He was famously 00:03:14.219 --> 00:03:17.360 influenced by 3D. From Massive Attack. Exactly, 00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:20.139 who was also a graffiti artist before he co -founded 00:03:20.139 --> 00:03:23.080 that seminal trip -hop band. So the DNA of his 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:25.900 art is just infused with that early sound, that 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:28.819 culture. We also know he was pretty active locally, 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:31.409 even outside of the art scene. Yeah, his community 00:03:31.409 --> 00:03:33.909 ties were strong. The sources mentioned he was 00:03:33.909 --> 00:03:36.349 a goalkeeper for the Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls 00:03:36.349 --> 00:03:38.550 football team in the 90s. That's not just trivia, 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:40.569 is it? It shows a deep engagement with the local 00:03:40.569 --> 00:03:42.930 community. For sure. He even toured with the 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:45.750 club to Mexico in 2001. So when you combine that 00:03:45.750 --> 00:03:47.909 local history with his visual style, it's clear 00:03:47.909 --> 00:03:50.129 his whole persona grew organically from the city 00:03:50.129 --> 00:03:52.789 itself, not from some art school studio. And 00:03:52.789 --> 00:03:55.330 all of this local detail leads us to the biggest 00:03:55.330 --> 00:03:58.009 question. Who is the man behind the moniker? 00:03:58.129 --> 00:04:00.479 Right. The leading theory, which dates back to 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:02.680 2008 when the mail on Sunday first broke the 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:06.520 story, points squarely to one person, Robin Gunningham. 00:04:06.659 --> 00:04:08.860 Robin Gunningham is still the prime suspect. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:12.439 And the reason that theory is so durable is because 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:15.259 the evidence combines, you know, old school reporting 00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:17.860 with cutting edge academic analysis. So Gunningham 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:22.060 was born July 28th, 1974. In Yate, which is a 00:04:22.060 --> 00:04:24.500 small town near Bristol. That's right. And multiple 00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:27.120 former schoolmates from Bristol Cathedral School 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:30.160 and other local associates have reportedly corroborated 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.480 that Gunningham is Banksy. And this is where 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:35.439 the anonymity game takes a really forensic turn, 00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:37.439 doesn't it? We're not just talking about eyewitness 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:39.879 testimony anymore. We're talking about a geographic 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:42.740 fingerprint that ties Gunningham to the art. 00:04:42.939 --> 00:04:46.589 Exactly. So in 2016. Researchers at Queen Mary 00:04:46.589 --> 00:04:49.029 University of London, they conducted a study 00:04:49.029 --> 00:04:51.889 using geographic profiling. And this is a technique 00:04:51.889 --> 00:04:53.709 that's usually reserved for tracking criminals, 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:56.310 right? Like serial burglars or even terrorists. 00:04:56.470 --> 00:04:59.269 Precisely. They map the locations of crimes to 00:04:59.269 --> 00:05:01.569 predict where the person lives or operates from. 00:05:01.709 --> 00:05:04.110 Applying a criminology technique to art, that's 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:06.629 immediately fascinating. So what did the profiling 00:05:06.629 --> 00:05:09.500 actually reveal? Well, they correlated the known 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:14.319 locations of 192 confirmed Banksy street art 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:17.620 pieces across Bristol and London. Okay. And they 00:05:17.620 --> 00:05:19.839 mapped those against the documented movements 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:22.319 and addresses that were associated with Robin 00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:25.120 Gunningham. And the result? The study found a 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:27.420 definitive, highly statistically significant 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:30.279 link. It basically supported the journalistic 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:32.980 claim that Gunningham is the person responsible. 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:36.620 So it essentially turns Banksy's body of work 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:39.240 into a forensic trace. Which is deeply ironic 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:42.079 for an artist whose main defense is his anonymity. 00:05:42.339 --> 00:05:45.399 The academic community now largely accepts Gunningham 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:48.060 as the individual behind the name. And the sources 00:05:48.060 --> 00:05:50.459 even give us a pretty neat sort of conversational 00:05:50.459 --> 00:05:52.579 explanation for the pseudonym itself. Yeah, the 00:05:52.579 --> 00:05:55.000 naming transition seems logical. Gunningham reportedly 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.379 started using the name Robin Banks, which, you 00:05:57.379 --> 00:05:59.860 know, if you say it quickly, colloquially. Robin 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:02.500 Banks. Open Banks. It just easily morphs into 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:05.410 Banksy. We also have some early physical evidence 00:06:05.410 --> 00:06:07.629 like two cassette sleeves he designed back in 00:06:07.629 --> 00:06:10.589 93 for a Bristol band called Mother Samosa. They 00:06:10.589 --> 00:06:13.009 have Gunningham's signature on them. But of course, 00:06:13.009 --> 00:06:15.410 because the enigma is more profitable than the 00:06:15.410 --> 00:06:18.410 truth, the speculation spectrum is still wide. 00:06:18.930 --> 00:06:21.930 We mentioned the link to Robert Dalnaja, 3D of 00:06:21.930 --> 00:06:25.149 Massive Attack. A personal friend and a graffiti 00:06:25.149 --> 00:06:27.959 artist himself back in the 80s. That one always 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:30.319 comes up because of their shared Bristol history. 00:06:30.660 --> 00:06:33.279 Del Naja has consistently denied it, but the 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.339 theory is hard to shake, especially with their 00:06:35.339 --> 00:06:38.779 collaborations. And then you get the more amusing 00:06:38.779 --> 00:06:41.560 theories that pop up whenever Banksy does something 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:44.639 big. Like the 2020 Twitter hoax. Right, speculating 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.839 that Banksy was actually the former Art Attack 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:49.759 presenter Neil Buchanan. His publicist had to 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:52.639 issue a formal denial just to stop the meme from 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:54.860 spiraling out of control. My favorite bit of 00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:57.189 anecdotal evidence. The one that shows the pure 00:06:57.189 --> 00:07:00.550 absurdity of this mystery involves a local counselor 00:07:00.550 --> 00:07:03.029 named Billy Gannon. Oh, the case of Billy Gannon 00:07:03.029 --> 00:07:05.930 from Pembroke Dock in Wales. It's the perfect 00:07:05.930 --> 00:07:08.170 meta commentary on the Banksy effect. He actually 00:07:08.170 --> 00:07:10.970 had to resign from his job. He did. In 2022, 00:07:11.370 --> 00:07:13.870 Gannon resigned from his local counselor duties 00:07:13.870 --> 00:07:16.670 because the persistent public speculation that 00:07:16.670 --> 00:07:19.069 he was Banksy was getting in the way of his government 00:07:19.069 --> 00:07:22.750 work. And his resignation quote is just remarkable. 00:07:23.069 --> 00:07:25.029 It sums up the whole problem of the mystery. 00:07:25.399 --> 00:07:27.620 He said, I'm being asked to prove who I am not 00:07:27.620 --> 00:07:30.680 and the person that I am not may not exist. I 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:33.360 mean, that's the ultimate so what of Banksy's 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:36.459 anonymity. It creates this vacuum that the public 00:07:36.459 --> 00:07:39.240 is just desperate to fill, even if it messes 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:41.779 up a local politician's career. You're forced 00:07:41.779 --> 00:07:43.600 to defend against the possibility that you're 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:45.759 a cultural ghost. And while he's maintained his 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.519 anonymity with incredible discipline, a forgotten 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:51.139 interview recently surfaced that seems to confirm 00:07:51.139 --> 00:07:54.060 his first name. This is a key piece of direct 00:07:54.060 --> 00:07:57.720 evidence. It is. In November 2023, a rediscovered 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:01.019 BBC interview from 2003 came. to light. The reporter, 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:03.939 Nigel Wrench, asked the artist directly if his 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:06.079 name was Robert Banks. And he didn't deny it. 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:08.019 He didn't deny it flat out. He gave a slight 00:08:08.019 --> 00:08:10.699 clarification. His forename, he said, was Robbie. 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:13.339 Which aligns perfectly with the Robin Gunningham, 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.120 Robin Banks theory. Perfectly. It suggests the 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:18.259 mystery is less about discovering some shadow 00:08:18.259 --> 00:08:20.879 effects from nowhere and more about protecting 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.639 the public facing persona of a very specific, 00:08:23.860 --> 00:08:26.100 disciplined individual who's trying to keep the 00:08:26.100 --> 00:08:29.750 focus on the work, not the worker. So if anonymity 00:08:29.750 --> 00:08:32.250 is a weapon you need to wage this guerrilla war 00:08:32.250 --> 00:08:35.009 against the establishment, then the stencil is 00:08:35.009 --> 00:08:36.929 the mechanism for delivering the message with 00:08:36.929 --> 00:08:39.509 speed and precision. But he didn't start with 00:08:39.509 --> 00:08:42.509 stencils, did he? No, not at all. Banksy's beginnings 00:08:42.509 --> 00:08:44.669 were firmly rooted in the traditional graffiti 00:08:44.669 --> 00:08:48.700 scene. His early years, so roughly 1990 to 1994, 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:51.080 were spent as a freehand artist. And he was part 00:08:51.080 --> 00:08:53.200 of a crew. Yeah, he was part of a Bristol crew 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.279 called the Dry Bread Z Crew, or DBZ, alongside 00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:59.059 two other artists known as Cato and Tess. And 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:01.360 that groundwork led to his first known large 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:04.419 wall mural, The Mild, Mild West. That was painted 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:07.980 in 1997 on Stokescroft in Bristol. Tell us about 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:10.139 that one. What does it depict and why is it so 00:09:10.139 --> 00:09:12.240 significant for understanding his early political 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.340 focus? It's just a powerful, enduring symbol 00:09:15.340 --> 00:09:17.879 of that anti -establishment feeling. It shows 00:09:17.879 --> 00:09:20.080 a teddy bear, you know, the symbol of childhood 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:22.740 innocence, actively standing up to authority. 00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:26.379 It's lobbing a Molotov cocktail at three riot 00:09:26.379 --> 00:09:28.940 police officers. And it covered an advertisement 00:09:28.940 --> 00:09:31.559 on a former solicitor's office, which is a statement 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:34.379 in itself, using a site of established law to 00:09:34.379 --> 00:09:36.960 depict violent resistance. It really confirms 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:39.039 that the anti -authoritarian thing was there 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:42.080 long before his global fame. So he was clearly 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:44.759 capable of doing large -scale freehand work. 00:09:45.139 --> 00:09:48.340 Why did he make that drastic pivot around the 00:09:48.340 --> 00:09:52.340 year 2000 to stenciling? For an artist to choose 00:09:52.340 --> 00:09:54.240 a technical constraint like that, it must have 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.419 been a highly pragmatic decision. Oh, it was 00:09:56.419 --> 00:09:58.919 purely practical. It was driven by two critical 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:01.919 interrelated factors, minimizing the time he 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:04.340 spent exposed on a wall and reducing the legal 00:10:04.340 --> 00:10:06.460 risk of getting caught. And he tells the story 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:08.259 of how that happened, right? Yeah. Banksy himself 00:10:08.259 --> 00:10:10.740 provided the origin anecdote. He claims he switched 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:12.559 techniques while he was actively hiding from 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:14.620 the police under a rubbish lorry. The moment 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:17.269 of inspiration came from evasion. from seeking 00:10:17.269 --> 00:10:20.129 refuge under a piece of garbage. That speaks 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:23.370 volumes. It really does. While he was under there, 00:10:23.429 --> 00:10:26.629 he noticed the perfectly formed stenciled serial 00:10:26.629 --> 00:10:29.409 number on the vehicle's chassis. And that was 00:10:29.409 --> 00:10:32.889 the aha moment. So by adopting stenciling, he 00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:35.190 could pre -prepare the image, get it on the wall 00:10:35.190 --> 00:10:37.889 in minutes instead of hours. Exactly. It's essential 00:10:37.889 --> 00:10:40.320 when the police are actively hunting you. This 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:42.460 technique allowed him to create these intricate, 00:10:42.539 --> 00:10:45.940 striking images very, very quickly. It was a 00:10:45.940 --> 00:10:48.100 technical innovation born purely of necessity. 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:51.220 But we have to acknowledge he didn't invent the 00:10:51.220 --> 00:10:53.799 concept of life -size stencils. No. And it's 00:10:53.799 --> 00:10:56.059 essential to credit the influence. The sources 00:10:56.059 --> 00:10:58.480 are very clear that he drew inspiration heavily 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.320 from the French graffiti artist Blec Lerat, who 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.700 pioneered the life -size stencil technique back 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:06.120 in the early 80s in Paris. So Banksy essentially 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:09.539 took Blec Lerat's style. use of rats, for example, 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:12.759 and modernized it for immediate, hard -hitting 00:11:12.759 --> 00:11:15.059 political commentary. That's a good way to put 00:11:15.059 --> 00:11:17.240 it. He modernized it for the digital age. But 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:20.100 this technical shift, however pragmatic and successful 00:11:20.100 --> 00:11:23.340 it was, wasn't universally welcomed by the street 00:11:23.340 --> 00:11:26.580 art community, was it? Why did stenciling bring 00:11:26.580 --> 00:11:29.769 so much criticism from his peers? Well, it was 00:11:29.769 --> 00:11:32.669 seen as fundamentally cheating by a lot of traditional 00:11:32.669 --> 00:11:35.750 graffiti artists. Except purists. Exactly. Especially 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:38.269 those who specialized in freehand tagging and 00:11:38.269 --> 00:11:41.730 really complex pieces or wild style, which required 00:11:41.730 --> 00:11:45.250 immense skill, time, and risk. For them, the 00:11:45.250 --> 00:11:47.330 difficulty and the time investment were part 00:11:47.330 --> 00:11:49.769 of the art. So using a pre -prepared stencil 00:11:49.769 --> 00:11:52.330 was seen as a shortcut. Yeah, a shortcut that 00:11:52.330 --> 00:11:54.470 diminished the authenticity of the act. And this 00:11:54.470 --> 00:11:57.269 criticism really boiled over into that very public, 00:11:57.370 --> 00:12:00.110 long -running feud. The graffiti war with King 00:12:00.110 --> 00:12:02.970 Rabo. That's the one. The feud reportedly began 00:12:02.970 --> 00:12:05.509 when Banksy allegedly painted over one of Rabo's 00:12:05.509 --> 00:12:08.129 long -standing tags, which is a massive transgression 00:12:08.129 --> 00:12:11.100 in the graffiti world. Rabo retaliated, other 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.139 writers joined in, and they were all challenging 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:16.179 Banksy's legitimacy based on his method. So the 00:12:16.179 --> 00:12:19.000 very technique that gave him anonymity and allowed 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:21.840 him to scale his message globally also made him 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:23.879 an outsider in the community that birthed him. 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:27.159 It's a total paradox of method. His technical 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:29.500 choice defined his public success, but created 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:32.299 constant conflict with the underground. Speed 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:34.840 and efficiency were prioritized over purity, 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.960 and the result was global recognition. So once 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.100 Banksy mastered the speed of the stencil, the 00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:44.120 question became, what political message could 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.059 he deliver in that flash of time? What were the 00:12:47.059 --> 00:12:49.600 core themes he was launching at the public? The 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:51.679 messages have been remarkably consistent from 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.539 the very beginning. They are almost always anti 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:57.960 -war, anti -capitalist, and fundamentally anti 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:00.399 -establishment. And he uses these recurring images. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:04.320 Rats, apes, policemen, children. He does. He 00:13:04.320 --> 00:13:06.379 uses them as archetypes to deliver the payload 00:13:06.379 --> 00:13:08.879 to make the political message universal. He didn't 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:11.360 just see graffiti as art, though. He characterized 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.139 it as a form of guerrilla warfare. Right. He 00:13:14.139 --> 00:13:16.659 called it underclass revenge. Absolutely. He 00:13:16.659 --> 00:13:18.860 argued that it allows an individual to snatch 00:13:18.860 --> 00:13:21.799 power, territory, and glory from a bigger and 00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:24.419 better equipped enemy. The whole act for him 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:26.480 is about shifting power dynamics. There's that 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.519 famous quote of his, if you don't own a train 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:30.419 company, then you go and paint on one instead. 00:13:30.860 --> 00:13:33.320 Exactly. His goal is to show the public that 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:36.039 centralized power, which seems all -encompassing, 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:38.980 is not terribly efficient and it can and should 00:13:38.980 --> 00:13:41.059 be deceived. And he didn't just target public 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:44.179 walls. He targeted the hallowed halls of traditional 00:13:44.179 --> 00:13:47.320 art institutions, subverting the very definition 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:49.720 of a masterpiece. This is where that concept 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:52.759 of cultural jamming becomes paramount. In 2003, 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:55.360 he staged the exhibition Turf War in London. 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:57.460 And this one was infamous because he painted 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:00.299 on live animals. He did. And even though the 00:14:00.299 --> 00:14:03.279 RSPCA deemed the conditions acceptable, it sparked 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:06.539 this very immediate animal rights protest where 00:14:06.539 --> 00:14:08.460 an activist chained herself to the railings. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.659 It just showed his willingness to use shock to 00:14:11.659 --> 00:14:14.179 draw attention to his broader message about societal 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:16.940 hypocrisy. And his technique of subverting classical 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:19.299 paintings is absolutely brilliant, taking this 00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:23.100 revered centuries -old art and sticking a cynical 00:14:23.100 --> 00:14:25.759 modern twist right on it. In a 2005 exhibition, 00:14:26.059 --> 00:14:28.139 he showcased several oil paintings he'd modified. 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:30.990 Take Monet's water lily pond, for example. Symbol 00:14:30.990 --> 00:14:34.129 of tranquility. Right. He adapted it to include... 00:14:34.129 --> 00:14:36.690 And even though reproducing banknotes is a criminal 00:14:36.690 --> 00:14:39.870 offense, those notes became instant collector's 00:14:39.870 --> 00:14:42.169 items. The authorities must have taken this seriously. 00:14:42.429 --> 00:14:45.350 Oh, very seriously. The notes were highly collectible. 00:14:45.610 --> 00:14:49.240 But the legal implications were real. In 2016, 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:51.740 the Bank of England actually felt compelled to 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:54.940 contact the American Numismatic Society, a respected 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:58.320 academic body, to formally remind them of the 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.120 illegality of publishing photos of the banknotes 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.379 without official permission. So the central bank 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:05.720 was actively concerned about the legitimization 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:08.379 of these fake notes. They were, which solidified 00:15:08.379 --> 00:15:11.659 their place as these high -value illegal collector's 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:13.840 items. Another devastating piece of appropriation 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:17.090 is that 2004 screen print, Napalm. Can't beat 00:15:17.090 --> 00:15:19.129 that feeling. Yeah, that's one of his most visually 00:15:19.129 --> 00:15:22.110 devastating pieces of political commentary. Banksy 00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:25.169 took the iconic 1972 photo of the terror of war. 00:15:25.309 --> 00:15:27.669 The one with the screaming napalm burned Vietnamese 00:15:27.669 --> 00:15:31.149 girl. Fancy Kim Fook. That's the one. But in 00:15:31.149 --> 00:15:33.269 Banksy's print, she's not alone in her tragedy. 00:15:33.509 --> 00:15:36.169 She's being led cheerfully by a brightly colored, 00:15:36.330 --> 00:15:38.850 oblivious Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse. They're 00:15:38.850 --> 00:15:41.210 holding her hands. Holding her hands and smiling 00:15:41.210 --> 00:15:43.649 at an invisible audience, completely ignoring 00:15:43.649 --> 00:15:46.789 her visible terror. It's the ultimate statement 00:15:46.789 --> 00:15:50.190 on how toxic, pervasive commercialism encroaches 00:15:50.190 --> 00:15:53.549 on and sanitizes human tragedy. And his institutional 00:15:53.549 --> 00:15:56.929 pranks, smuggling his own commentary into the 00:15:56.929 --> 00:15:59.840 temples of high culture. really cemented his 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.279 identity as a guerrilla artist. He managed this 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:05.159 multiple times in 2005, successfully placing 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:07.500 his own subverted artworks unannounced in major 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:11.039 American institutions, MoMA, the Met, and the 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:13.580 British Museum in London. Let's talk about the 00:16:13.580 --> 00:16:16.059 audacity of Peckham Rock. Peckham Rock is just 00:16:16.059 --> 00:16:19.549 satire at its finest. In May 2005, Banksy hung 00:16:19.549 --> 00:16:21.669 his own version of a primitive cave painting 00:16:21.669 --> 00:16:24.370 in Gallery 49 of the British Museum. What did 00:16:24.370 --> 00:16:26.409 it depict? It showed a primitive figure hunting 00:16:26.409 --> 00:16:28.769 wildlife while at the same time pushing a modern 00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:30.990 shopping trolley. It hung there for several days, 00:16:31.210 --> 00:16:34.049 undetected by museum staff. So high culture is 00:16:34.049 --> 00:16:36.370 easily fooled and slow to recognize critique. 00:16:36.570 --> 00:16:38.450 That was the point. And then he took that cultural 00:16:38.450 --> 00:16:40.750 jamming straight to the happiest and most commercialized 00:16:40.750 --> 00:16:44.629 place on earth, Disneyland. The 2006 prank. In 00:16:44.629 --> 00:16:47.149 September 2006, at Disneyland in California, 00:16:47.509 --> 00:16:50.470 he dressed an inflatable doll in the style of 00:16:50.470 --> 00:16:53.169 a Guantanamo Bay detainee orange jumpsuit, black 00:16:53.169 --> 00:16:56.350 hood, handcuffs, and placed it right inside the 00:16:56.350 --> 00:16:58.789 big Thunder Mountain railroad ride. They had 00:16:58.789 --> 00:17:00.610 to shut the ride down to remove it. And finally, 00:17:00.610 --> 00:17:02.789 his attack on celebrity culture, which he clearly 00:17:02.789 --> 00:17:05.269 sees as a pure form of consumerism. The Paris 00:17:05.269 --> 00:17:08.690 Hilton CD prank. Also in 2006, Banksy managed 00:17:08.690 --> 00:17:11.789 to place up to 500 copies of her debut CD, Paris, 00:17:12.069 --> 00:17:15.309 into 48 different UK record stores. But they 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:17.990 were sabotaged copies. Completely replaced. The 00:17:17.990 --> 00:17:20.109 cover art was his own Hilton appearing topless, 00:17:20.170 --> 00:17:22.730 or with her chihuahua's head replacing her own. 00:17:23.009 --> 00:17:26.049 And the remixes, done by Danger Mouse, had mocking 00:17:26.049 --> 00:17:28.650 titles like Why Am I Famous and What Am I For. 00:17:28.890 --> 00:17:30.710 And people bought them before the stores realized 00:17:30.710 --> 00:17:32.410 what had happened. Yes, and the prank itself 00:17:32.410 --> 00:17:34.930 created immense immediate... commercial value 00:17:34.930 --> 00:17:37.450 some of those altered cds sold on ebay for as 00:17:37.450 --> 00:17:40.910 high as 750 pounds the act of subversion became 00:17:40.910 --> 00:17:43.369 the true commodity so this is where the ultimate 00:17:43.369 --> 00:17:47.619 irony begins Banksy, the anonymous anti -capitalist 00:17:47.619 --> 00:17:50.240 artist, quickly becomes the world's most successful 00:17:50.240 --> 00:17:53.359 commercial artist. It turns out authentic rebellion 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:55.859 is maybe the most valuable commodity there is. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.900 It creates its own massive economy. In December 00:17:58.900 --> 00:18:02.019 2006, the journalist Max Foster actually coined 00:18:02.019 --> 00:18:05.039 the phrase the Banksy effect, specifically to 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:07.440 describe how Banksy's success raised the profile 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:09.960 and the astronomical prices of other street artists 00:18:09.960 --> 00:18:13.279 globally. He didn't just get famous. He legitimized 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.019 an entire genre in the auction house. He really 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:18.319 did. And you can see the financial explosion 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:22.420 during that pivotal 2006 -2007 period. Celebrities 00:18:22.420 --> 00:18:24.279 and collectors jumped in almost immediately. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:27.430 Christina Aguilera. Bought a piece for 25 ,000 00:18:27.430 --> 00:18:29.950 pounds. She did. But the auction houses really 00:18:29.950 --> 00:18:32.990 took notice in October 2006 when a set of Kate 00:18:32.990 --> 00:18:35.829 Moss silkscreen prints, done in the style of 00:18:35.829 --> 00:18:38.450 Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe pictures, sold at 00:18:38.450 --> 00:18:41.849 Sotheby's in London for 50 ,400 pounds. That 00:18:41.849 --> 00:18:43.849 was five times their estimate. And the following 00:18:43.849 --> 00:18:46.710 year, his prices just rocketed past 100 ,000 00:18:46.710 --> 00:18:50.839 pounds. 2007 was the year of acceleration. Sotheby's 00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:53.279 auctioned bombing middle England for over 102 00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:56.880 ,000 pounds. Other key works like Girl with Balloon 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:59.440 and Bomb Hugger sold for well above their estimates. 00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:02.299 But the peak of that early acceleration was April 00:19:02.299 --> 00:19:06.700 27, 2007. Space Girl and Bird fetched an incredible 00:19:06.700 --> 00:19:11.240 288 ,000 pounds at Bonhams. 20 times the ISO. 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:14.339 20 times. It was unbelievable. So this overwhelming 00:19:14.339 --> 00:19:18.220 commercialization forces Banksy to respond artistically 00:19:18.220 --> 00:19:20.829 to his own skyrocketing. value. He has to criticize 00:19:20.829 --> 00:19:22.970 the very mechanism that's making him rich. He 00:19:22.970 --> 00:19:25.849 had to address the paradox head on. To coincide 00:19:25.849 --> 00:19:27.670 with the second day of those really successful 00:19:27.670 --> 00:19:31.250 2007 auctions, Banksy updated his website with 00:19:31.250 --> 00:19:33.730 an iconic image. The auction house scene. Yes, 00:19:33.869 --> 00:19:36.250 showing a group of people bidding furiously on 00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:38.529 a canvas and the painting they were bidding on 00:19:38.529 --> 00:19:41.170 read in large, unmistakable letters, I can't 00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:43.569 believe you morons actually buy this shit. So 00:19:43.569 --> 00:19:45.430 what's the insight here? Is this genuine ideological 00:19:45.430 --> 00:19:47.930 critique or is this the ultimate piece of self 00:19:47.930 --> 00:19:49.839 -referential marketing? I think it's the latter 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:53.259 disguises the former. The key insight is that 00:19:53.259 --> 00:19:55.619 Banksy's career proves that the most valuable 00:19:55.619 --> 00:19:58.079 commodity in the late stage capitalist art market 00:19:58.079 --> 00:20:01.180 is the authenticity of rebellion. Right. So by 00:20:01.180 --> 00:20:04.099 publicly critiquing the morons who buy his art, 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:06.559 he validates his anti -establishment stance, 00:20:06.819 --> 00:20:09.640 which in turn makes the next piece he sells even 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:12.519 more valuable. Because the buyer is purchasing 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:15.400 a piece of that validated rebellion. The message 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:17.859 becomes the marketing strategy. It's genius. 00:20:18.039 --> 00:20:21.500 That era also saw him enter the world of. mainstream 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:24.180 film, not just as a subject, but as a director. 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:26.460 Yeah, we're talking about the documentary film 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:28.839 Exit Through the Gift Shop. It debuted at the 00:20:28.839 --> 00:20:31.819 2010 Sundance Film Festival and got nominated 00:20:31.819 --> 00:20:34.819 for an Academy Award in 2011. And the film focuses 00:20:34.819 --> 00:20:38.079 on Thierry Guetta, a Los Angeles -based French 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:40.779 immigrant who documents Banksy and other street 00:20:40.779 --> 00:20:42.579 artists before he becomes an artist himself, 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.200 Mr. Brainwash. Right. But the film is notoriously 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.039 ambiguous. Is it a genuine documentary or is 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:50.960 it Banksy's greatest, most drawn -out prank on 00:20:50.960 --> 00:20:52.980 the art world? That's the central debate, isn't 00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:55.650 it? It is. The consensus is that it's a profound 00:20:55.650 --> 00:20:58.990 piece of meta commentary. Banksy shows us how 00:20:58.990 --> 00:21:01.529 quickly an art market hungry for the next big 00:21:01.529 --> 00:21:04.410 thing will elevate a mediocre figure like Mr. 00:21:04.529 --> 00:21:06.990 Brainwash just because he has a story and momentum. 00:21:07.109 --> 00:21:10.450 So he effectively directed a movie that mocks 00:21:10.450 --> 00:21:13.309 the very mechanism that then gave him an Oscar 00:21:13.309 --> 00:21:15.690 nomination. And his response to that nomination 00:21:15.690 --> 00:21:18.579 was typically dry. He said. I don't agree with 00:21:18.579 --> 00:21:20.640 the concept of award ceremonies, but I'm prepared 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.460 to make an exception for the ones I'm nominated 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:25.359 for. And that self -deprecating humor and political 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:28.839 edge were then exposed to millions of Americans 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:30.799 through a collaboration with the ultimate commercial 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:34.960 empire, The Simpsons. In 2010, Banksy was credited 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:37.680 with the highly political opening couch gag for 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.720 the episode Money Mart. It was a dark, shocking 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.039 sequence depicting the production of The Simpsons 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.599 in this dystopian sweatshop. Showing workers 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:47.380 and abused animals producing the merchandise. 00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:50.880 Exactly. It's a direct, hard -hitting, anti -globalist 00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:53.200 critique aired on one of the most commercialized 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:55.940 TV shows in history. And it was contentious internally. 00:21:56.480 --> 00:21:58.980 Fox actually sanitized parts of the opening for 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:01.920 taste before it aired. But despite his enormous 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:04.619 cultural weight, authorities consistently view 00:22:04.619 --> 00:22:08.160 his street work as simple vandalism. They place 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:11.259 property rights above political art. This fundamental 00:22:11.259 --> 00:22:14.599 conflict persists. Peter Gibson, a spokesman 00:22:14.599 --> 00:22:16.779 for Keep Britain Tidy, said unequivocally that 00:22:16.779 --> 00:22:19.559 Banksy's work is simple vandalism and that his 00:22:19.559 --> 00:22:22.779 fame glorifies it. And the Westminster City Council 00:22:22.779 --> 00:22:25.240 proved this when they removed One Nation under 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:29.430 CCPV in 2009. They just painted it over, stating 00:22:29.430 --> 00:22:31.809 clearly that Banksy has no more right to paint 00:22:31.809 --> 00:22:34.740 graffiti than a child. The irony, of course, 00:22:34.819 --> 00:22:36.779 is that property owners who find a Banksy on 00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:39.759 their wall quickly discover that the act of vandalism 00:22:39.759 --> 00:22:42.480 has just multiplied their property value a hundredfold. 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:44.880 So once Banksy's name was established globally, 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:47.460 his canvas became global. He started tackling 00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:49.460 some of the world's most serious geopolitical 00:22:49.460 --> 00:22:52.380 issues. His prolonged engagement with the Israeli 00:22:52.380 --> 00:22:54.940 West Bank barrier is maybe the most significant 00:22:54.940 --> 00:22:58.009 example of his commitment to deep activism. It 00:22:58.009 --> 00:23:00.470 really represents a massive physical and ideological 00:23:00.470 --> 00:23:03.890 commitment. In 2005, he created nine distinct, 00:23:04.049 --> 00:23:06.670 powerful images directly on the imposing concrete 00:23:06.670 --> 00:23:08.630 sections of the barrier. These weren't quick 00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:11.490 stencils, were they? No, these were highly symbolic, 00:23:11.690 --> 00:23:14.930 large -scale visual metaphors designed to inject 00:23:14.930 --> 00:23:18.029 humanity and possibility into a structure meant 00:23:18.029 --> 00:23:20.299 to divide. What are some of the most memorable 00:23:20.299 --> 00:23:23.140 visuals from that series? One piece showed a 00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:25.640 large ladder going up and over the imposing structure, 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.400 suggesting a simple way to bypass the complexity. 00:23:29.259 --> 00:23:32.420 Another depicted children digging a literal hole 00:23:32.420 --> 00:23:35.099 right through the wall, injecting this element 00:23:35.099 --> 00:23:38.500 of hope, of escape. And then, 12 years later, 00:23:38.599 --> 00:23:40.779 he escalated his involvement. He didn't just 00:23:40.779 --> 00:23:42.859 paint the wall, he built a fully operational 00:23:42.859 --> 00:23:45.680 hotel right next to it. The Waldorf Hotel. It 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.900 opened in Bethlehem in 2017. Banksy financed 00:23:48.900 --> 00:23:51.359 its creation to mark the 100th anniversary of 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:53.740 British control of Palestine. And it functions 00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:56.000 as an immersive political experience, not just 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.119 a place to stay. Right. What's critical about 00:23:58.119 --> 00:24:00.000 the design is that every single room in this 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:02.539 hotel faces the West Bank wall, which is often 00:24:02.539 --> 00:24:04.559 called the worst view in the world. It makes 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.039 the political reality absolutely unavoidable 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:09.119 for the guests. That's activism through commercial 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:11.740 real estate. He's forcing visitors to engage 00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:14.740 with the reality he's critiquing. He also uses 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:17.700 the profitable art market for direct philanthropic 00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:20.000 causes in the region. He does. In July 2020, 00:24:20.220 --> 00:24:22.680 he sold a triptych called Mediterranean Sea View 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:26.359 2017. These were modified Romantic -era paintings 00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:28.980 of the seashore, but he altered them by adding 00:24:28.980 --> 00:24:31.799 discarded orange lifebuoys and life jackets washed 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.220 up on the shores. Directly referencing the migrant 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:37.240 crisis. Exactly. The three paintings sold for 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:39.740 2 .2 million pounds, with all the funds dedicated 00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:42.700 entirely to a hospital in Bethlehem. It's a direct 00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:45.259 conversion of art value into humanitarian aid. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.599 Beyond geopolitical hotspots, Banksy also engages 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:51.099 in these massive temporary dystopian disruptions. 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:54.059 Like Dismaland in 2015. The bemusement park. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.420 In Weston -Super -Mare. It was designed as a 00:24:56.420 --> 00:24:59.400 direct, dark parody of Disneyland, intentionally 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:01.480 lampooning the disappointing nature of themed 00:25:01.480 --> 00:25:04.380 attractions. It had a derelict Disney castle. 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:07.599 Dark, cynical installations. It was open for 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:09.960 only about five weeks and got massive global 00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:12.619 attention. He also used his art to comment directly 00:25:12.619 --> 00:25:14.720 on the European migrant crisis and the refugee 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:18.240 camps. In 2015, he created the mural The Son 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:20.599 of a Migrant from Syria at the Calais jungle 00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:23.880 camp. It depicted Steve Jobs as a migrant. And 00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:26.839 his reasoning was profound. It was. Jobs' biological 00:25:26.839 --> 00:25:29.579 father was a Syrian migrant, making the wealthy, 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:32.480 iconic capitalist a powerful symbol for the modern 00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:35.190 refugee. And the artwork was released with this 00:25:35.190 --> 00:25:37.450 statement from his publicist, using incredibly 00:25:37.450 --> 00:25:40.430 potent dark irony to address the political fear 00:25:40.430 --> 00:25:42.730 around the camps. What did it say? That when 00:25:42.730 --> 00:25:44.450 people look at neighborhoods reduced to rubble 00:25:44.450 --> 00:25:48.029 with no hope, what they're seeing is a vast outdoor 00:25:48.029 --> 00:25:50.549 recruitment center for terrorists. And we should 00:25:50.549 --> 00:25:52.470 probably address this for all our sakes. But 00:25:52.470 --> 00:25:54.950 his activism moved way beyond commentary in 2020. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:58.400 He privately funded a rescue vessel. This was 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:00.500 a monumental step, moving from the conceptual 00:26:00.500 --> 00:26:03.359 realm of art into direct, expensive humanitarian 00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:06.279 action. In August 2020, it was revealed he had 00:26:06.279 --> 00:26:08.960 privately funded the Louise Michel, a former 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:11.839 French Navy boat, specifically to rescue refugees 00:26:11.839 --> 00:26:14.119 crossing the Mediterranean. And he painted it 00:26:14.119 --> 00:26:16.960 pink. Painted it pink and decorated it with an 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:19.099 image of a young girl holding a heart -shaped 00:26:19.099 --> 00:26:22.089 safety float. This financial commitment just 00:26:22.089 --> 00:26:25.009 shows that for Banksy, the critique has to be 00:26:25.009 --> 00:26:27.829 matched by tangible, dangerous support for the 00:26:27.829 --> 00:26:30.210 marginalized. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine 00:26:30.210 --> 00:26:33.210 also brought forth these immediate, impactful 00:26:33.210 --> 00:26:36.670 artistic responses. During COVID -19, he followed 00:26:36.670 --> 00:26:39.769 self -isolation, famously creating a chaotic 00:26:39.769 --> 00:26:42.950 artwork in his own bathroom. But more significantly, 00:26:43.069 --> 00:26:46.769 in May 2020, he donated the piece Painting for 00:26:46.769 --> 00:26:48.930 Saints. Also called Game Changer. Right. He gave 00:26:48.930 --> 00:26:50.690 it to the University Hospital. of Southampton 00:26:50.690 --> 00:26:53.630 as a tribute to NHS staff. That painting was 00:26:53.630 --> 00:26:56.450 a massive financial boon for health care. It 00:26:56.450 --> 00:26:59.670 later sold for a record 16 .8 million pounds, 00:26:59.750 --> 00:27:02.210 with the proceeds going entirely to NHS charities. 00:27:02.470 --> 00:27:05.349 And in 2022, he physically traveled to a war 00:27:05.349 --> 00:27:08.049 zone in Ukraine. Which was highly risky and incredibly 00:27:08.049 --> 00:27:11.329 powerful. In November 2022, he confirmed a visit, 00:27:11.470 --> 00:27:14.609 creating six murals in war -torn sites like Bordyanka 00:27:14.609 --> 00:27:17.730 and Kiev. The one with Putin. Yes, the image 00:27:17.730 --> 00:27:20.289 in Borodyanka, which depicted Russian President 00:27:20.289 --> 00:27:22.490 Vladimir Putin being judo thrown to the ground 00:27:22.490 --> 00:27:25.269 by a small boy. That image was instantly embraced, 00:27:25.509 --> 00:27:27.769 later turned into a Ukrainian postage stamp, 00:27:27.990 --> 00:27:30.910 again showing that swift transition of his political 00:27:30.910 --> 00:27:33.329 commentary into popular iconography used by the 00:27:33.329 --> 00:27:35.210 state. Before we move on, we need to touch on 00:27:35.210 --> 00:27:38.210 two more localized but significant works that 00:27:38.210 --> 00:27:40.670 highlight that tension between political satire. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:44.720 and local governance first in 2014 near the gchq 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:47.240 headquarters in cheltenham he created the spy 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:50.119 booth mural depicting three men in sunglasses 00:27:50.119 --> 00:27:53.339 snooping on a telephone box. Okay. A direct critique 00:27:53.339 --> 00:27:56.220 of global surveillance. Right. And that piece 00:27:56.220 --> 00:27:58.480 later vanished, probably destroyed during renovation 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.420 in 2016. It just proves that even globally famous 00:28:01.420 --> 00:28:03.660 art is ephemeral when it's on private or government 00:28:03.660 --> 00:28:05.960 property. And the highly controversial pigeon's 00:28:05.960 --> 00:28:08.779 mural in Clacton. The pigeon's mural from October 00:28:08.779 --> 00:28:11.660 2014 appeared 10 days before a local by -election. 00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:14.460 It showed five gray pigeons holding signs with 00:28:14.460 --> 00:28:17.359 explicitly anti -immigrant phrases, go back to 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.259 Africa. migrants not welcome, all directed towards 00:28:20.259 --> 00:28:22.640 a more colorful migratory swallow. The intent 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:26.140 was clearly satirical, mocking xenophobia. Clearly. 00:28:26.500 --> 00:28:28.960 However, the tendering district council removed 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:31.160 the work immediately after getting complaints 00:28:31.160 --> 00:28:34.079 that offensive and racist remarks had appeared 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:36.740 on the wall. It just illustrates the risk that 00:28:36.740 --> 00:28:39.299 political satire, especially anonymous satire, 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:42.400 can be misinterpreted or is deemed too inflammatory 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:45.839 by authorities who prioritize public order. OK, 00:28:45.940 --> 00:28:48.220 this section deals with Banksy's ultimate struggle, 00:28:48.380 --> 00:28:51.259 the fight between the guerrilla artist and the 00:28:51.259 --> 00:28:53.660 global commerce system he accidentally created. 00:28:54.289 --> 00:28:57.089 His existence is a legal and commercial nightmare 00:28:57.089 --> 00:28:59.509 for him, and nothing embodies that contradiction 00:28:59.509 --> 00:29:02.269 better than the great shredding prank of 2018. 00:29:02.730 --> 00:29:04.730 The auction of Girl with Balloon at Sotheby's 00:29:04.730 --> 00:29:07.569 was truly unprecedented performance art. The 00:29:07.569 --> 00:29:09.750 painting was sold for just over a million pounds. 00:29:09.950 --> 00:29:12.829 Exactly one million, 42 ,000 pounds. And the 00:29:12.829 --> 00:29:15.349 very moment the gavel confirmed the sale, an 00:29:15.349 --> 00:29:18.089 alarm sounds from within the picture frame. The 00:29:18.089 --> 00:29:20.710 canvas drops and passes through a powerful shredder 00:29:20.710 --> 00:29:23.309 hidden inside, partially destroying the work 00:29:23.309 --> 00:29:25.609 live. during the auction this wasn't a spontaneous 00:29:25.609 --> 00:29:28.170 act the preparation involved some significant 00:29:28.170 --> 00:29:31.910 engineering oh it was years in the making banksy 00:29:31.910 --> 00:29:34.130 later revealed in a video that he had secretly 00:29:34.130 --> 00:29:36.509 fitted the shredder into the frame years prior 00:29:36.509 --> 00:29:39.349 specifically to be activated if the piece ever 00:29:39.349 --> 00:29:41.730 went up for auction he was trying to assert a 00:29:41.730 --> 00:29:43.890 final act of control over the commodification 00:29:43.890 --> 00:29:47.369 process yes His rationale, which he attributed 00:29:47.369 --> 00:29:49.589 to Picasso, but which is more commonly attributed 00:29:49.589 --> 00:29:53.029 to the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin, was the urge 00:29:53.029 --> 00:29:56.670 to destroy is also a creative urge. He was arguing 00:29:56.670 --> 00:29:58.950 that the act of destruction was the final authentic 00:29:58.950 --> 00:30:01.910 artistic moment. But the prank had a hilarious 00:30:01.910 --> 00:30:04.970 accidental twist. The intent was total destruction, 00:30:05.170 --> 00:30:07.809 wasn't it? It was. Banksy later released a follow 00:30:07.809 --> 00:30:09.990 -up video showing a sample painting being completely 00:30:09.990 --> 00:30:12.960 shredded in rehearsal. His original vision was 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:15.559 total annihilation of the canvas. The video even 00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:18.059 had the subtitle. In rehearsals it worked every 00:30:18.059 --> 00:30:20.359 time. So the partial shredding was an accidental, 00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:23.599 albeit magnificent, creative failure. Exactly. 00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:26.160 And the market's response to this partial failure 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:29.299 redefined what art is worth. The buyer went ahead 00:30:29.299 --> 00:30:31.640 with the purchase. The female European collector 00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:34.180 who won the bidding showed incredible nerve and 00:30:34.180 --> 00:30:37.519 just went through with it. She did. The partially 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:39.779 shredded work was instantly authenticated by 00:30:39.779 --> 00:30:43.220 Banksy's agency, Pest Control, and retitled Love 00:30:43.220 --> 00:30:46.359 is in the Bin. Sothubbies released that now -famous 00:30:46.359 --> 00:30:48.599 statement that completely reframed the event. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:51.059 Banksy didn't destroy an artwork in the auction. 00:30:51.220 --> 00:30:54.000 He created one. Which instantly validated it 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:56.559 as a new work of art, a piece of documented performance 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:59.700 history. And crucially, the partial shredding 00:30:59.700 --> 00:31:02.059 meant the piece survived to be sold again. And 00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:04.720 the anti -capitalist statement accidentally inflated 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:07.720 the value of his work 20 -fold. Precisely. When 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:11.059 Love is in the Bin resold in 2021, it fetched 00:31:11.059 --> 00:31:15.460 a staggering £18 .582 million, a record price 00:31:15.460 --> 00:31:18.180 for the artist at the time. His effort to destroy 00:31:18.180 --> 00:31:20.690 the commodity only resulted in creating a higher 00:31:20.690 --> 00:31:23.150 value, scarcer and more legendary commodity. 00:31:23.470 --> 00:31:25.970 It's the perfect illustration of his central 00:31:25.970 --> 00:31:28.069 paradox. And this is where it gets really interesting. 00:31:28.269 --> 00:31:31.089 His philosophical commitment to anti -establishment 00:31:31.089 --> 00:31:34.029 and anti -copyright principles led directly to 00:31:34.029 --> 00:31:36.250 him losing legal battles over his own images. 00:31:36.490 --> 00:31:39.170 This is the second great contradiction. Banksy 00:31:39.170 --> 00:31:41.089 has to protect his intellectual property, but 00:31:41.089 --> 00:31:43.890 his entire ethos is against intellectual property. 00:31:44.349 --> 00:31:47.609 So in 2019, he opened that bizarre pop -up shop 00:31:47.609 --> 00:31:50.730 Gross Domestic Product in Croydon. He did it 00:31:50.730 --> 00:31:53.049 specifically to try and strengthen his trademark 00:31:53.049 --> 00:31:55.450 position against a greeting card company, Full 00:31:55.450 --> 00:31:58.089 Color Black, that was trying to legally exploit 00:31:58.089 --> 00:32:01.630 his name and sell fake Banksy merchandise. His 00:32:01.630 --> 00:32:03.789 legal counsel advised him to open the shop to 00:32:03.789 --> 00:32:06.470 show he was actively using the trademark. This 00:32:06.470 --> 00:32:09.349 defensive move backfired spectacularly. It did. 00:32:09.769 --> 00:32:12.289 In 2020, the European Union Intellectual Property 00:32:12.289 --> 00:32:15.750 Office, the UUIPO, ruled against Banksy regarding 00:32:15.750 --> 00:32:18.349 his trademark for his iconic flower thrower image. 00:32:18.569 --> 00:32:21.130 And the ruling was devastating. They said the 00:32:21.130 --> 00:32:23.710 claim was filed in bad faith. Yes. And they cited 00:32:23.710 --> 00:32:26.470 Banksy's longstanding public philosophical statement 00:32:26.470 --> 00:32:29.089 found in his own published books that copyright 00:32:29.089 --> 00:32:32.009 is for losers. So his own philosophical manifesto 00:32:32.009 --> 00:32:34.150 was used as legal evidence against him. That's 00:32:34.150 --> 00:32:36.769 the core of the legal paradox. The court concluded 00:32:36.769 --> 00:32:38.930 they weren't convinced that opening a temporary 00:32:47.910 --> 00:32:51.150 and his anonymity became a liability. A major 00:32:51.150 --> 00:32:53.450 hurdle. The court noted that legal rights could 00:32:53.450 --> 00:32:55.710 not be attributed to an unidentifiable person. 00:32:55.950 --> 00:32:58.789 So his anonymous status, his greatest weapon, 00:32:58.910 --> 00:33:01.349 became his biggest weakness in court. Moving 00:33:01.349 --> 00:33:03.680 into the current era. Banksy is still finding 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:06.220 new ways to integrate context and nature into 00:33:06.220 --> 00:33:09.099 his art, actively designing pieces that seem 00:33:09.099 --> 00:33:11.759 to resist being commodified. Let's look at the 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:14.059 environmental canvas he confirmed in Finsbury 00:33:14.059 --> 00:33:18.230 Park, London in 2024. This mural is just a masterpiece 00:33:18.230 --> 00:33:21.410 of ephemeral, site -specific engineering. The 00:33:21.410 --> 00:33:24.049 artwork is located behind this stark, heavily 00:33:24.049 --> 00:33:27.109 pruned tree, which completely dominates the foreground. 00:33:27.410 --> 00:33:30.009 The tree is totally bare. Completely. And Banksy 00:33:30.009 --> 00:33:32.569 painted green shades and leafy foliage onto the 00:33:32.569 --> 00:33:35.029 wall backdrop, precisely matching the municipal 00:33:35.029 --> 00:33:37.930 green used by Islington for housing estate signs. 00:33:38.250 --> 00:33:40.309 So the bare branches of the barren tree become 00:33:40.309 --> 00:33:43.250 the painted foliage on the wall. It creates this 00:33:43.250 --> 00:33:46.710 optical illusion of a lush, healthy canopy. It's 00:33:46.710 --> 00:33:49.210 an instant, striking comment on urban decay. 00:33:49.390 --> 00:33:51.589 That's the brilliance of it. And at ground level, 00:33:51.630 --> 00:33:53.609 there's a stenciled figure of a worker with a 00:33:53.609 --> 00:33:55.490 pressure washer, as if they're spontaneously 00:33:55.490 --> 00:33:58.269 spraying the green foliage onto the wall. And 00:33:58.269 --> 00:34:00.690 art experts immediately noted that the nature 00:34:00.690 --> 00:34:02.930 of this piece makes it incredibly difficult to 00:34:02.930 --> 00:34:05.319 sell. Almost impossible because the art relies 00:34:05.319 --> 00:34:08.340 entirely on the placement of that barren pruned 00:34:08.340 --> 00:34:10.780 tree. You can't remove it and sell it at auction 00:34:10.780 --> 00:34:13.840 without destroying its entire meaning. This design 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:17.059 choice is a permanent physical resistance to 00:34:17.059 --> 00:34:19.739 commercial removal. He also targeted one of the 00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:22.039 most visible symbols of legal authority in London 00:34:22.039 --> 00:34:25.420 very recently in 2025. In the early hours of 00:34:25.420 --> 00:34:29.139 September 8th, 2025, a controversial Banksy mural 00:34:29.139 --> 00:34:32.460 appeared on the royal courts of justice. It depicted 00:34:32.460 --> 00:34:35.079 a judge violently beating a protester with a 00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:37.739 gavel. And given the timing, commentators suggested 00:34:37.739 --> 00:34:40.019 it was a direct commentary on recent arrests 00:34:40.019 --> 00:34:42.079 of environmental and political protesters. That 00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:44.280 is the consensus, and the response from the state 00:34:44.280 --> 00:34:46.960 was swift. How long did it last? Not long at 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:49.480 all. The work appeared on September 8th and was 00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:51.599 immediately covered up by court staff with a 00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:54.519 large metal sheet and fencing the same day. It 00:34:54.519 --> 00:34:57.260 was removed entirely two days later. The speed 00:34:57.260 --> 00:34:59.260 of the response just highlights how seriously 00:34:59.260 --> 00:35:02.039 government buildings take his commentary. But 00:35:02.039 --> 00:35:04.199 the sources noted that a faint shadow of the 00:35:04.199 --> 00:35:07.579 mural remained. The memory of the critique persists, 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:10.940 even if the image is gone. Let's shift back to 00:35:10.940 --> 00:35:12.619 his published material for a second, because 00:35:12.619 --> 00:35:15.400 the sources show a fascinating evolution in his 00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:18.440 tone, one that parallels his rise to mass market 00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:20.940 fame. His early works were a series of three 00:35:20.940 --> 00:35:23.739 self -published booklets. banging your head against 00:35:23.739 --> 00:35:26.340 a brick wall, existentialism, and cut it out. 00:35:26.480 --> 00:35:29.179 And the tone in these was deliberately unpolished, 00:35:29.260 --> 00:35:33.079 dark, angry. And, as he described it, paranoid. 00:35:33.710 --> 00:35:35.750 They were notable for having numerous grammatical 00:35:35.750 --> 00:35:38.329 errors, which added to that scruffy, authentic 00:35:38.329 --> 00:35:40.730 underground feel. And then when he went for mass 00:35:40.730 --> 00:35:43.190 market distribution, the content was completely 00:35:43.190 --> 00:35:46.130 sanitized. Precisely. His mass market book Wall 00:35:46.130 --> 00:35:48.489 and Peace, published by Random House in 2007, 00:35:48.769 --> 00:35:50.949 compiled large parts of those original books, 00:35:51.070 --> 00:35:54.010 but it was heavily edited. The stories were altered 00:35:54.010 --> 00:35:56.530 to have a much less provocative tone, and importantly, 00:35:56.670 --> 00:35:58.929 all the grammatical errors were corrected. It's 00:35:58.929 --> 00:36:01.409 a subtle editorial shift that shows the negotiation. 00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:05.300 maintaining the edgy persona while being packaged 00:36:05.300 --> 00:36:07.719 for widespread consumption. That's it. So what 00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:09.239 does this all mean for his long -term legacy 00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:11.860 and his control over his own art? Well, Banksy 00:36:11.860 --> 00:36:14.500 himself no longer sells photographs or reproductions 00:36:14.500 --> 00:36:17.500 of his street graffiti. He uses his agency, Pest 00:36:17.500 --> 00:36:21.119 Control, solely for non -public sales and crucially 00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:23.739 for the authentication of his works. So Pest 00:36:23.739 --> 00:36:26.480 Control is the only official handler of original 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:29.900 Banksy pieces. It's his final defense. Even if 00:36:29.900 --> 00:36:32.039 he loses the trademark battle over the images 00:36:32.039 --> 00:36:34.539 themselves, this system lets him strictly control 00:36:34.539 --> 00:36:37.079 the integrity of what is considered authentic 00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:39.599 Banksy artwork in the market. The ultimate control 00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:42.780 isn't ownership, but provenance. Yes. His greatest 00:36:42.780 --> 00:36:45.280 legal threat now comes from that bad faith ruling, 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:47.699 which challenges his ability to defend his work 00:36:47.699 --> 00:36:50.659 at all. However, as the sources indicate, he 00:36:50.659 --> 00:36:53.360 is still working. He has to constantly produce 00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:55.559 and authenticate new work just to stay ahead 00:36:55.559 --> 00:36:57.599 of the legal vultures trying to commercialize 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:00.329 his anonymity. So we've taken a deep dive into 00:37:00.329 --> 00:37:03.150 the world's most elusive artist, walking through 00:37:03.150 --> 00:37:06.429 the incredible, often self -defeating paradoxes 00:37:06.429 --> 00:37:09.670 that define Banksy. He is the anonymous political 00:37:09.670 --> 00:37:12.869 activist who unintentionally created the world's 00:37:12.869 --> 00:37:15.610 most dramatic auction moment, turning property 00:37:15.610 --> 00:37:18.769 damage into record -breaking wealth. He's the 00:37:18.769 --> 00:37:21.349 anti -capitalist whose authentic rebellion became 00:37:21.349 --> 00:37:23.469 the most valuable commodity in the system he 00:37:23.469 --> 00:37:26.030 despises. And what's fascinating here is how 00:37:26.030 --> 00:37:29.090 his technical method, that early shift to stencils, 00:37:29.090 --> 00:37:31.789 became the primary engine of his global fame. 00:37:31.989 --> 00:37:35.030 That speed, born of pure necessity combined with 00:37:35.030 --> 00:37:37.789 his anonymity, allowed him to deliver immediate, 00:37:37.949 --> 00:37:41.070 powerful social commentary all across the globe. 00:37:41.230 --> 00:37:43.110 He established a guerrilla operating procedure 00:37:43.110 --> 00:37:45.909 that the market loves but can never fully contain. 00:37:46.190 --> 00:37:48.090 Because the moment the system touches it, he 00:37:48.090 --> 00:37:50.269 has a new critique ready. His entire career is 00:37:50.269 --> 00:37:52.449 just this ongoing study in the guerrilla warfare 00:37:52.449 --> 00:37:54.420 waged against the forces of commerce. commercialization 00:37:54.420 --> 00:37:56.440 and state power. And this struggle is far from 00:37:56.440 --> 00:37:59.980 over. Not at all. We know that as his legal team 00:37:59.980 --> 00:38:02.619 prepares for another tribunal in 2025 at the 00:38:02.619 --> 00:38:04.960 UK's Intellectual Property Office, they're going 00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:07.679 to confront the very legal system he despises, 00:38:07.699 --> 00:38:10.719 struggling to defend images created by a person 00:38:10.719 --> 00:38:13.380 who doesn't legally exist. So we are left with 00:38:13.380 --> 00:38:15.360 this provocative question for you to consider. 00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:18.340 When an artist's anonymity is their most powerful 00:38:18.340 --> 00:38:21.719 tool, the protective mask that fuels their reputation. 00:38:22.420 --> 00:38:24.860 How long can they continue to wage guerrilla 00:38:24.860 --> 00:38:27.380 warfare against the very system that has made 00:38:27.380 --> 00:38:29.920 them immortal before that crucial tool of anonymity 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:32.000 becomes the biggest hurdle to maintaining control 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:35.159 over their own work? Anonymity is Banksy's shield, 00:38:35.340 --> 00:38:37.300 but as the courts have proved, it might also 00:38:37.300 --> 00:38:39.820 be his fatal legal weakness. Thank you for joining 00:38:39.820 --> 00:38:41.579 us for this deep dive. We'll see you next time.