Banksy Series In Ukraine Fuels Identity Speculation

Updated on 11/18/2022 at 1:30 pm

The mysterious British street artist Banksy expresses his solidarity with the people of Ukraine with several works.
In an Instagram video, he can apparently even be seen at work – of course you can’t see his face.

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Banksy remains a ghost. A video released by the mysterious British street artist on Thursday night, showing him painting various works of art in Ukraine, doesn’t change that. Aside from the covered hands and upper body, nothing can be seen of the Bristol artist. The Instagram video had already received nearly a million likes as of Friday morning.

Some of the photos, most of which were spray-painted on the walls of the houses, were discovered days ago. Photos of him circulated on social media and caused excitement in the war-torn country. Until now, the artist himself had only recognized one of the photos through Instagram, the only channel through which he communicates with the public. His PR agency later confirmed that the other works were also his.

Banksy shares video of him spray painting art

The video is a “making-of” of sorts in which Banksy can be seen cutting out stencils and spraying. The works, mostly in black and white, are then shown: for example, an old man with a long beard sits in a bathtub at Horenka, scrubbing his back with a large brush.

FILE – The undated photo that street artist Banksy gave through an agency to the British Press Association (PA) news agency on November 12, 2022 shows a house destroyed in the war. A person wearing a gas mask and a fire extinguisher can be seen on the building’s yellow wall. Banksy posted a video on Instagram in which he recognizes a whole range of works in Ukraine. (for dpa “Street artist Banksy publishes video with works in Ukraine”)

The image is sprayed onto the tiled bathroom wall of a house with a huge gap in the façade. Another work depicts a woman apparently standing in a chair leaning against the facade of a burned-out house. She is wearing curlers, a gas mask, a robe and a fire extinguisher in her hand.

Other images show gymnasts wearing frills and waving ribbons dancing over a bullet impact hole or balancing upside down on mountains of rubble. The black outlines of children can be seen on concrete barricades, apparently using a metal anti-tank barrier as a seesaw.

The artist spray-painted a Russian rocket launcher in a rectangular box, whose weapon looks like a penis painted on a school bathroom wall. In the ruins of a kindergarten, a young judoka throws an adult fighter – whose physique resembles that of Russian President Vladimir Putin – to the ground. At the end, a text is displayed with the words: “In solidarity with the people of Ukraine”.

An artwork believed to be by well-known graffiti artist Banksy on a damaged building near Kyiv.

Surveillance camera footage is circulating online

Recent works in Ukraine have once again fueled speculation about Banksy’s identity. A few days ago, alleged video from a surveillance camera circulated on the Internet showing a man spraying one of Banksy’s works in Ukraine. But the edited footage looks staged.

A man in a suit and face mask pulls a can of spray from his shoulder bag with a frantic pace that seems theatrical and starts spraying. But the white and black lines that appear on the wall don’t come from a single spray bottle.

There are no stencils used by the artist. Also, locating a surveillance camera seems extremely unlikely. Whoever is kidding, Banksy will barely be seen in the video.

Banksy does not want to reveal identity

The real Banksy, meanwhile, escaped unmasking following a trademark rights dispute before the European Intellectual Property Authority (EUIPO), according to an Artnews report. The authority had initially agreed with a company that had filed a complaint against the registration of a work by Banksy as a protected trademark.

Banksy uses Pest Control Limited to authenticate his works in order to keep his identity secret. But this makes it difficult to prove, in the event of a lawsuit, that the works really come from a single person who can enforce their intellectual property rights.

In the second instance, however, Banksy managed to prevail without having to reveal his identity, as reported by the newspaper. The dispute revolved around a photo of a monkey with a sign around its neck that read, “Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge.” (dpa/ari)