Banksy Facts: Things To Know About The Street Artist As DJ Goldie Almost Reveals His Real Identity

Without intending to, DJ Goldie let it slip during a recent interview that he might be privy to the real identity of the street artist Banksy, who has managed to avoid being recognized by anyone in the world for more than 20 years.

"Give me a bubble letter and put it on a T-shirt and write Banksy on it and we're sorted. We can sell it now... No disrespect to Robert, I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over," DJ Goldie said during Distraction Pieces podcast.

Ever since Goldie mistakenly mentioned the first name of Banksy was Robert, many news outlets started searching for acquaintances of Goldie, whose names coincidentally start with “Robert.” The closest they got was Goldie’s friend Robert Del Naja, the founder of Massive Attack, who worked with the DJ as graffiti artists during the late 1980s.

Read: Banksy Gaza Art: Graffiti Artist Makes Statement About Palestinian Suffering With New Murals [VIDEO]

However, Del Naja denied he was the mysterious artist Banksy, saying instead he knew him well.

"…a good story but sadly not true,” he said, Independent reported. "Wishful thinking, I think. He is a mate as well. He's been to some of the gigs. It's purely a matter of logistics and coincidence, nothing more than that."

The only connection established so far between Banksy and Del Naja is that the artist provided a foreword to Del Naja's book “3D and the Art of Massive Attack,” released in 2016.

Banksy’s identity has been shrouded in mystery for so many years that little is known about his origin. Even though most people were intrigued about his identity, no one was able to uncover it to this day. That does not mean that people have given up trying. Two of the names that were floated regarding Banksy’s identity in the past are “Robert Banks” and “Robin Gunningham.”

Read: Charlie Hebdo Shooting: 'Banksy' Artwork Is Actually By French Artist Lucille Clerc

He is believed to have been born in Bristol, England, around 1974, according to a Biography. He rose to fame in the 1990s following his controversial, and sometimes politically themed stenciled art pieces. Some of the common subjects in those include animals like rats, apes as well as children, policemen and even members of the royal family.

The works of Banksy have appeared in the U.S., Australia, Canada, England, France, Israel, Jamaica and Palestine. Banksy took to the streets of New York City in October 2013, when he pledged to create a new graffiti piece every day. "The plan is to live here, react to things, see the sights—and paint on them. Some of it will be pretty elaborate, and some will just be a scrawl on a toilet wall,” he stated in an interview with Village Voice at the time.

A 2010 documentary called “Exit Through The Gift Shop,” was based on Goldie’s life which described the relationship between commercial and street art.