The Banksy Story
BBC Sounds
There is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma... and then there’s Banksy.
The Banksy Story – catch up on BBC Sounds _ is funny and light and intriguing all at once.
The man behind it, James Peak, is a self-confessed superfan of the anti-establishment graffiti artist who has taken the art world by storm.
Remember the picture that shredded itself via a mini guillotine once the hammer went down at the auction?
The greatest showman is Banksy.
That signature with the little rat intrigued Peak and set him off on a rollicking journey to find the true Banksy.
The introductory episode is a set of punchy questions – back and forth tennis style – with Steph who used to work with the artist. She’s schtumm.
“Who is he? Even a tiny little hint?”
“No.”
“What does he smell like?”
“Paint.”
“Is he funny?”
“He definitely made me laugh.”
“Do people warm to him?”
It’s all very pacy, racy and a little addictive.
Banksy is the artist who claims that he sees himself more as a painter and decorator.
You even get a chance to hear the voice of the artist who may or may not be Banksy.
It’s an interview from 2005 for NPR radio in America.
“We assume that you are who you say you are, but how can we be sure?” asks the interviewer. “There’s no guarantee of that at all,” says the maybe Banksy.
Apparently, his aim was to get his art hung in the New York Met for 42 days... because that’s the length of time they hung a Matisse upside down.
He’s famous and infamous.
His organisation is called Pest Control and he has changed the fortunes of places like Weston-super-Mare by simply turning up at 2am and spraying on a wall. Suddenly, they’re tourist destinations.
The mystery is everything.
Steph even said that she met Banksy’s dad at a gallery and he didn’t know his son was Banksy. He had to confess.
And here’s the rub – spoiler alert – in an interview for the Today programme, Peak confessed that at the end of his investigation, he no longer wants to know who Banksy is.
"He’s doing such a brilliant job of wealth redistribution – taking money from the very rich art world and recycling it to a tremendous variety of good causes and progressive causes,” he said.
“So actually to disrupt that would be madness, a terrible thing to do.”
