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It was Frieze Week in London,
which is, I suppose, the week in

the London calendar when everyone
in the art world is in town.

And the contemporary evening
auctions are the biggest in London,

and this was Sotheby's.

It was a huge sale. 60-odd lots.

And this Banksy was positioned
right at the end,

the last lot of the evening.

I was bidding for the Banksy,
the "Girl with Balloon",

and it was the one that, you know,
everyone connects Banksy to.

The year before, so I think in 2017,

it was rated as the UK's
most favourite art piece.

For me, from a collector's point of
view and a dealer's point of view,

uh, it's the holy grail.

Banksy, "Girl with Balloon",
ladies and gentlemen.

I'm going to start bidding
at 100, 150, 200 thousand.

300 thousand. 350. 400 thousand.

450 thousand. 500 thousand.

The estimate being quite low,
that encouraged the bidding.

And there was a lot of energy.
It was a big sale.

Does anybody...? 700 thousand.

We went up to £650,000. Stopped
there.

Towards the end, I think there was
maybe about two or three bidders
left.

800 thousand. Thank you.

No pressure. Last chance.

At £850,000.

860!

Last... Yeah, are we bidding?

And selling for 860 thousand!

-Thank you very much.

When the hammer comes down
that's always very loud

because it clearly demarcates
the fact that a work is sold.

Thank you very much indeed.
And, ladies and gentlemen...

It all happened in sort of like
a split second.

The gavel came down,
the alarm started beeping.

Everyone's attention and everyone
turning round and all the mobile
phones going up.

What's happening? Is that like a
fire alarm? Did someone steal a
painting?

Ladies and gentlemen, we have to
move on here. Sorry, can I have your
attention?

It stopped halfway

and two technicians were sort of
ushered out to take it away,

and usually they'd have
white gloves on and they didn't,

so there was kind of an indication
that this wasn't expected.

Was this a prank by Banksy?
Is this a real Banksy?

Was this pure genius or...?

It wasn't that the painting fell out
because the frame was broken.

It was choreographed.

Knowing that Banksy's a great
provocateur,

immediately the question was,
"Was Banksy in the saleroom
himself?"

And it seems that he was.

But, again, unproven,
so this is what keeps you guessing.

Who is he? Where is he?
Is he here? Is he, you know...

- He wasn't in the room, but I...
-How do you know?

I... Well, I don't know.

But I saw the person
who activated the alarm.

He had a briefcase with some
mechanical machines in there.

There was a man with some
sort of, not disguise,

but, you know, dark glasses and a
hat, or a sort of...

He was wearing sunglasses, yes,
and he was wearing a hat, I think.
Um...

So it's like a comedy!

It's like a pastiche,
it's like a caricature.

Was this a prank? Was this a stunt?

Or is this art?

It was a major art statement.

Is it the price that makes
art worthwhile?

Or is it because you look at it
and think, "This is brilliant?"

And the art world is very snobby.
To most people it's impenetrable

and Banksy punches through that
wall.

It's like a massive "fuck you"
to the art world.

It is.

Oh, no, sorry. I am allowed to say
"fuck"?

His work supported the underdog

who was fighting against
neo-liberalism and capitalism.

He created a new way
of selling, marketing, talking.

He alerted a generation
to the ills of society.

Right now, Banksy is one
of the ten most highly rated artists

in the contemporary art market.

And selling for £8,500,000.

-Congratulations.

Nobody has been that famous
and yet invisible.

The NYPD would like to arrest him.

But just take a look at how ordinary
New Yorkers are responding.

Everyone's trying to own a bit of
Banksy.

Hey! Hey!

Fuck off!

It's a sad day, people. The Banksy
has been removed from the wall of
the Taibach.

-We want Banksy!
-What do we want?

-Banksy back!
-When do we want it?

Now!

It's just a massive old circus.

99.9% of the world's population
have no idea who Banksy is at all,

what he looks he.

People think the anonymity was like
a smart marketing trick by Banksy,

a move of pure genius.

And it was but it wasn't
done deliberately.

It was more self-preservation
than self-promotion.

How urgently he was wanted
by the police, I don't know,

but he was certainly painting on
walls and that's a crime.

Originally, anonymity was
completely essential for him.

We all have an identity,

we're all given a name
when we're born.

That's the way society has been
built.

So, refusing to reveal
one's identity is in fact

refusing to play by society's rules.

Banksy showed that if you do
want to be anonymous, you can.

He is probably, in the Kardashian
age,

the only person that
doesn't want to be famous.

Banksy's is almost a kind of
unofficial spokesperson for people.

I mean, we all would like our
politicians to speak our language,

but they don't, on the whole.

Deep down people feel like
he's an everyday person

and people can relate to that.

He's one of us, you know.

Keep the mask as it is then that's
fine. We can project.

Today, Banksy

has twice as many followers
on Instagram as the Louvre.

Banksy doesn't speak to the 1%,
like most contemporary artists,

he speaks to 100% of the population.

From the very start,
Banksy has a signature style.

There's a very ironic
quality to his work

which makes it
immediately recognisable.

It's a sort of sarcasm,
a British sense of humour.

It's an easy, simplistic message
that you can get

when you're going past on a bus,
going past on a train or waking down
the street.

They're bold enough to be see
from the moon.

Between the humour, politics
and the simplicity of the message,

he managed to capture everybody,

from small children to grandparents.

It's like, it sucked in everybody.

"The Flower Thrower",

which he initially created
in Jerusalem in 2003,

is an image everyone has
appropriated

as a way of protesting
against the violence of war.

Even if you're not aware
of its original context,

the image still works,
because it reflects

adolescent, student rebellion,
and the anger young people feel.

Banksy's the voice shouting out,

screaming against what
was happening in society.

There were more and more arrests,
stop and search.

There were more and more security
cameras. You were being monitored.

You were being monitored
through your phone,

you were being monitored on the
street.

It was him, a single voice, bringing
all these other voices together.

So, welcome along, everyone,

to the Bristol Street Art and
Graffiti Art Guided Walking Tour,

where this morning you will be
discovering why Bristol

is the street art and graffiti
capital of the UK.

Possibly of Europe, too.

Plus there's insights into
the life and work of Banksy.

Not "Bansky", it's Banksy,

which is based upon his original
artist name, which was Robin Banks,

which is far too long, so he
shortened his name down to Banksy

and the artist we've all heard of
was born from that very moment.

We don't know if Banksy
was really born in Bristol

but we know he's from Bristol
in the sense that

that's where his first tags began
to appear in the '90s.

He chose the city as
the playground for his work.

Graffiti represents
the vandalistic essence of things,

meaning an intervention
without authorisation,

where you leave behind
what's known as your tag.

So he starts off
with this vandalistic energy.

Graffiti isn't a way of
communicating for the people.

Graffiti is a way
of talking to your peers.

There comes a point when
he starts using the stencil
technique,

which is a lot more mainstream,
a lot more popular,

in order to communicate things to
as many people as possible.

Banksy moves to
the capital, to London,

where a greater number of
people see his work.

The media is also
much more powerful there.

And so when he gets to London,

there's actually a much
bigger impact on the whole country.

This young guy from Bristol spread
his message throughout London

and it was those very
early stencils in London

that just hadn't been seen before.

So it was like a new voice
in a bigger city.

It started really in 2002.

I was sat in my photography gallery
and an art dealer who I knew came in

and he had roll, the size of this,

of Banksy prints and they
were all "Rude Coppers".

He peeled one off,
put it down on my desk,

and said, "Do you want to buy
these?"

It was a picture of a copper
holding his finger up like this,

called "Ruder Copper",
and I didn't get it.

Within two weeks,
I realised my mistake.

And that, suddenly,
these works were taking off.

Kids were going in to these pop-up
shows that Banksy was doing,

buying these prints,
going straight back to their digs,

getting on their computer, getting
on to eBay and flipping them for
profit,

and created this crazy market that
took off at such an exponential
speed

it was quite shocking to watch.

He's irreverent,

and that speaks to younger people,

because he's one of them,
he's a part of that group.

And I kick myself to this day
that I wasn't in early enough

to understand it, because
I'd be a lot wealthier now!

The trajectory of his career
is aligned to that of the internet.

Because, for the first time ever,
suddenly there was a tool.

That these artists couldn't get
representation by the galleries,

they were being accepted
by the museums.

Suddenly, their careers flew
cos they could get their work out.

What museum or gallery in the world

can bring you that kind of audience?

Painting walls isn't
enough for Banksy any more.

A graffitied elephant the star
of this American show.

Very quickly, he decides
that walls aren't enough for him

and that he needs
to break through the art market.

A step away from street art,

this is Banksy's graffiti
rendered into 3D.

Banksy says this is a different kind
of family day out.

Welcome to Dismaland.

End-joy.

He invents
a horror version of Disneyland.

It's the absolute opposite
of actual Disneyland.

In his Disneyland there are only
really dark images of people dying,

of migrants drowning.

In another section, it's the media
being hauled over hot coals.

And in another section
it's all about broken dreams.

Banksy's saying, "Don't you get it?

This is what's behind Mickey Mouse,
behind Sleeping Beauty's castle.

This is reality."

What makes him stand out
are his scathing remarks.

He's someone who hits where it
hurts,

who lights fires,

and after all, isn't that
what being an artist is about?

He is the most famous artist
in any point of art history.

You might have Leonardo da Vinci
and a couple of others might come
close.

But in terms of the most
recognisable artist today,
worldwide, is Banksy.

Today we can say he's
definitely an artist who's here to
stay.

He is the Picasso of the 21st
century.

The Andy Warhol.
That's not up for debate anymore.

UK graffiti artist Banksy
has moved here for a month

and he's promised to surprise the
city every day with a new piece of
work.

His canvasses are cars
and city walls.

His fans and New York detectives
alike

combing the city
in a hunt for the murals.

He basically did a gallery exhibit
on the streets of New York

and nothing was for sale.

That did get the city
kind of Banksy crazy.

A Banksy would appear and everybody
would turn up taking pictures in
front of it.

Head down a bit, head down a bit.

Every morning,
there was like a new Banksy,

which is pretty cool.

And actually, he plays
with our adrenaline levels,

he plays with the excitement
he instils in the public,

who wakes up thinking,
"Where has Banksy struck now?

I want to find it first.
I want to be the first to report it.

I want to be the first to see it.

I'm hoping we can spot it here.

OK, here it is.

I've been looking
all around for him.

Just driving around earlier today,
found this one, so awesome.

Layla!

Back then in 2013,
there were a few of us who followed
him.

But what was so incredible
was that every day,

more and more people
started following him on social
media.

Banksy has taken
the Big Apple by storm.

I remember, 8 or maybe 10 days
later,

it was on the news on every
TV channel all over the world.

Banksy...

Huge murals created
under cover of darkness...

You see crowds gathering.

You see people getting really
excited about this treasure hunt.

"Where's Banksy? Where's Banksy?"

That's the only thing that
New York City was talking about.

I haven't seen that kind of
excitement in the city about
something going on

and, you know,
I've lived here my entire life.

My wife's cousin called me around
nine, nine thirty, in the morning
and said...

you know, "You have a Banksy."

And I said, "Oh, shit! Really?"

And they said, "Yeah." I said,
"That's pretty cool. Let me go and
see."

So I walked over here and I looked,

and all of a sudden I see the
Banksy.

And there's hundreds of people and I
see there's news teams starting to
show up.

So we took my building engineer
and we got a big piece of
plexiglass,

and we came over here, and then
people started yelling and
screaming,

"What are you doing?
You're defacing the Banksy."

And I'm like, "No, no, no.
I'm the general manager of Zabars.

Zabars owns this building.
We want to protect it."

-And then we got a standing ovation.
-Really?

It was like everything
changed in a second.

I think it's a miracle
because he never got caught

and he's been doing it his whole
career.

He's under the radar. He's like
Superman. You just can't catch him.

You running up to somebody's
property or public property

and defacing it
is not my definition of art.

Graffiti does ruin people's property

and is a sign of decay
and loss of control.

So the mayor may be contemptuous.

The NYPD would like to arrest him.

I remember the mayor
calling a press conference

out of the blue and suddenly,
the police were trying to find him,

because what he's doing
really is insulting the
establishment

by painting on public walls,
private walls, each day.

The New York City Police
Department would like to remind you,

if you see something suspicious
in the station...

There was a "Catch Me If You Can"
element to it.

And it's weird, with all this
surveillance and everything else,

you never saw like surveillance
footage of him actually

doing his work.

The public were searching for
Banksy.

The authorities were
searching for Banksy.

The press were searching for Banksy.

The paparazzi were hounding him.

It was worse than
the British royal family.

I think that he's
become so well-known that

his anonymity is now something
people want to get to the bottom of

just for the sake of
revealing his identity.

I can't even imagine what
it must feel like to be Banksy.

To wake up every morning knowing

that the very tenet of your
existence,

the core of what you are,
is at threat every day.

Every day you pick up a newspaper,
every day you turn a radio or
television on,

it could be game over.

Is the Banksy mystery
over?

No one ever knew who he is.

A blogger claims to have
found out who he is.

As a journalism student,
I had to come up with ideas

and articles that would
attract attention online.

Me being stupid, me being young,
me being a bit of an idiot,

I was like, fuck it, why don't I go
after the biggest story in the
world?

Not like who killed JFK,
but something everybody can connect
to.

Something everybody is interested in
- who is Banksy?

If anyone is going to find out
who Banksy is,

why can't it be some guy in his
pants on a Sunday in his house, a
student,

typing up like a hacker?

I felt like I was a hacker.

I'm kind of like the overweight guy
eating McDonald's, you know?

This all started on January 28th,
2016.

I went to see Massive Attack in
Glasgow.

The show was amazing,
although I was very drunk.

And I thought to myself, "Holy shit!

Massive Attack are from Bristol.
Banksy's from Bristol."

It was a general consensus that
they operate in the same world

and I was like, "OK, let me see
if I can find something."

One of the first places I looked at
was Los Angeles, 2006.

Cos that was something that really
stood out to me, when Banksy

went into Disneyland and he left

a kind of human crash doll dressed
up as a Guantanamo Bay detainee.

I was like, "OK, here I have a
specific more or less date about
Banksy.

So did Massive Attack play
a concert there?" Bingo!

Massive Attack played two concerts,

one in Anaheim and one in
California, in Los Angeles.

Massive Attack
were on tour in America,

and were doing a gig
at the Hollywood Bowl,

in September 2006.

So, yes, it does coincide exactly
with Banksy's presence

in Los Angeles.

That for me was a good starting
point.

And then, in 2010, Massive Attack
went on concert.

They played in San Francisco,
they played in Boston.

I looked at newspaper reports
from these cities.

I realised that Banksy had been
there almost one day before or one
day after.

OK, man, this is definitely
a connection being made here.

It makes sense. Massive Attack comes
as a one-night gig in New York

and, like, for the next 30 days,
the city is plastered

with these crazy Banksy pieces.

These kind of like snippets
of information and connections

just keep on being fed into me.

In 2008, Banksy left 14 stencils
around New Orleans.

But in New Orleans, Massive Attack
hadn't played a show.

If Massive Attack weren't playing
a concert why was Banksy there?

Bang!

2008, Robert Del Naja,
the singer's history,

Went to New Orleans to give the
premiere of a documentary film about

Hurricane Katrina.

Robert Del Naja has
composed music for a documentary

on the mistakes made

during the crisis management of
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

And at the same time,

Banksy's street art started
popping up in New Orleans,

and one of his works
depicted police pillaging a shop.

Both artists were criticising
the same thing at the same time.

There are very shocking
similarities between the two.

For example, Robert Del Naja
had no qualms about

showing images of migrants on huge
screens during one of his concerts.

Banksy has also often shown
his support for the migrant cause.

Robert Del Naja is clearly against
the political situation in Israel.

So is Banksy.

So if they're not the same person,

then they at least have
very similar political views.

There was an anti-Iraq war
when Tony Blair was in power here.

It was one of the biggest political
rallies in history in the UK.

And Banksy did a whole set of
placards for that called "Wrong
War".

-Tony!
-Blair!

-Tony!
-Out!

-Tony! Tony! Tony!
-Out, out, out!

We know that Robert Del
Naja protested against the war in
Iraq

against Tony Blair in 2003.

You really feel that
at different moments in history

these two people have some
very strong political views in
common.

I also never realised how
Robert Del Naja was part of

a graffiti movement.

He, kind of, kick started the
movement not only in Bristol but
even in the UK.

He was one of the real
original graffiti artists,

under his old moniker of Delge or
3D.

Banksy said,
"3D was a big influence on me."

Robert Del Naja said, "Oh,
Banksy was a big influence on me."

People always assumed
that they were friends.

No one suggested they're just
talking about themselves.

He's just talking about himself
to throw people off the chase.

The turning point or the point
where I said to myself,

"I've got him!" as if I had like a
net.

I'm running behind Banksy
and I'm like, "I caught him",

was in Naples.

In August 2004, Banksy left a
stencil called "Madonna con la
Pistola".

Robert Del Naja -
funny name, Italian name.

His dad is from Naples.

And he is a crazy Napoli football
fan.

And the first time that
he attended the stadium

was almost the exact same time
when Banksy left the stencil there.

And that's when I said to myself,

"You've fucking done it, son!"
You know, I was like...

"It's him!

It is him!

Robert Del Naja is Banksy."

The world may have
finally discovered the secret
identity

of he renowned guerilla street
artist known as Banksy.

A British student named Craig
Williams proposed the theory in a
blog post

back in January that Robert Del Naja
of the electronic hip-hip trio
Massive Attack

is behind the international works of
art.

Before I even finished
my journalism course,

I'd already done the biggest thing
that I'll ever do in my life as a
journalist.

So it was pretty fucked up,
but cool by another.

Banksy and Robert Del
Naja have the same political views

but if I wanted to make a joke,
I could say that I share those
views,

which doesn't make me Banksy.

You can look for everything
they have in common,

but I don't think that's proof.

I don't think that that makes Robert
and Banksy the same guy. I mean...

I would love for somebody
to go deeper and say,

when was a Banksy done in a certain
city

and Massive Attack was
completely somewhere else?

There are definitely inconsistencies
when you match the dates up.

On 20th October 2014,
a new stencil appeared in Bristol:

"The Girl with Pierced Eardrum".

And the night before Massive Attack
had been playing in San Francisco.

So he couldn't actually have played
the night before in San Francisco

and then add a stencil
on the street of Bristol.

You would never be able now
to know who Banksy is.

At least 50% to 60% of my time

-was spent trying to keep him
anonymous. -How?

Oh, all sorts of things.
We'd do fake news stories.

You know, we were well ahead
of Donald Trump on the fake news.

You know, part of it was
putting out news stories.

I put... The websites and everything
were in my name.

You know, lots of things we did
I'm not going to tell you about.

My years with Banksy
were the best years of my life.

We lived like kings
but without any rules.

I've picked out some of my
favourites over the years.

This is my favourite portrait
that I've done.

I think we went from there to the
city farm and did something really
weird.

So... This was great.
This was in West London.

And this is a good example of him,
like, working, middle of the day.

That's not a quick stencil.
That's not a five minutes and done.

That's probably an hour of him,
on the street, doing a piece

with no one saying shit.

There was another time
when closed off a street,

with cones with guys with hi-vis
jackets,

pretending that a road was closed so
he could do a big piece underneath a
bridge.

All sorts of, various techniques.

I've never ever known him
do anything at night.

It's like an invisibility cloak.

You put on a boiler suit

and a hi-vis jacket,

and you look like you're
supposed to be where you are...

most people just walk past.

Institutions are very careful about

making sure no one steals
their paintings. However,

they never had any interest in
people going in there to put up a
painting.

So he sort of shuffled along,

dressed in a sort of beard and mac
and everything,

and put in a painting on the wall.

And, of course,
it was Banksy who put it up

but already there was
a bit of a team with him.

I went with him so we did
a dry run the day before.

Then we went back the next day
to do it for real.

So I had a little camcorder, so I
was filming us as we went up the
steps.

I go to get into the Tate,

the security guard stops me,
says, "You're not allowed to film."

-I'm like, "Shit!"

It's like, if we don't film it,
then it's all for nothing.

I end up flicking the lens cap
off the camcorder

and film it all with the camera
down by my hip,

just hoping that there was some
footage, which there was in the end.

Everything was kind of planned out
with meticulous precision.

Nothing was really left to chance.

There wasn't many things
that happened that weren't,

like, thought through and planned.

I mean, it's almost part of his
kind of modus operandi

to choose remote areas.

They seem random but obviously
they aren't. They're quite
premeditated.

Banksy is a genius of situations.

He says the right thing

in the right place

at the right time.

This little cat appeared
amongst within ruins

of the city of Gaza after a series
of bombings some years ago

and everyone was asking:
"What's that kitten doing there?"

And that's when he said:

"The thing that's most searched for
and looked at globally on the
internet

are cats and kittens.

I've put a cat there because
I want you all to take an interest

in what's happening over there.

Rub your noses in it,
look at what's happening over
there."

The work he's done in Palestine
has drawn so much world attention

for the young people,
who would never have engaged

with what Palestine is, what Israel
is.

Are suddenly aware of this and I
think his crusade to make that
visible

and to highlight the injustice
that's happening there, I think's
admirable.

Banksy has set up the hotel
in Bethlehem.

As a political statement,
it's the big attraction

to Western holidaymakers.

The hotel is very special because

it is the hotel with the worst view
in the whole world.

So it attracts these people and
whilst they're staying there they
get to hear

about the exact political situation
of the Palestinian people,

which isn't normally reflected on
the television news particularly
well

or in a balanced fashion against
the other side of the story.

Most people might have
a moment of genius once in their
lives,

but he has them all the time.

He put up this installation in
Venice,

showing massive cruise ships
coming into port,

even though Venice is in danger
of being totally destroyed.

He set up his installation
in St Mark's Square.

One week later, two cruise ships
crashed into each other.

Everyone went crazy.

I mean, he couldn't have
guessed that would happen.

It's insane,

but each time,
he gets it exactly right.

We had this idea of raising money
for

a project to provide fresh water
for one village in Chiapas.

The Zapatistas are
an armed social movement

who rose up against the Mexican
state, against 500 years of
oppression.

And I think Banksy felt an affinity
for the Zapatista cause, as we all
did.

Banksy painted some murals
in those communities.

Did his research before he went out
there.

So he looked at artistic tradition
that there is out there.

This was the first time he'd gone
abroad and done painting abroad,

and tried to shine a spotlight on a
struggle in a different part of the
world.

Of course, after that, he went to
various other places around the
world.

" Season's greetings" was
the only comment from Banksy

as he posted this video online,
confirming he was behind this gift

to the people of Port Talbot.

At first glance,
the boy is playing in the snow,

but the work expands to reveal
a burning skip and the ash it emits.

It's the kind of political messaging
that's often in his work

and references the impact of
Port Talbot's industrial skyline.

Banksy created a piece
criticising climate change

and which criticised pollution
levels coming from industries at
Port Talbot,

which is a very polluted area.

And everyone thought:
"What is this place?

Why Port Talbot?"

People started looking on a map,
they started searching informations.

And that's how Banksy
uses his notoriety,

and it's actually
a very powerful weapon.

I imagine that's part of the
excitement from his point of view.

I don't know how much exploration
he does, but to find areas,

knowing there will be
publicity and excitement.

It almost forces the media then
to travel to these places and
explore

little pockets of the UK, so it's
quite a clever concept really,

to actually enforce people
to be part of his plan.

What did you guys think when
you saw it for the first time?

Well, I thought perhaps
anybody could do that.

-Shows I don't know anything about
art.

But, yeah, the more I've looked at
it...

I've come to appreciate it now and,
uh...

-Do you think Banksy's here today?
-Is he?!

No. Well, I'm asking you.
Do you think he's here?

-Well, we don't know. Nobody knows.
-You could be interviewing
him!

-There's a lot of intrigue around
that. -Yeah.

So, you know, Banksy puts them up on
walls

-in places that you think are safe.
-Yeah.

-And I come along and take them
away. -

And that's what gives you great
pleasure?

It gives me... As I say,
I own about 20 originals.

And the trouble is, a lot of his
artwork has got tagged or damaged

by other artists so now it's a case
of moving it here into town,

and then it will be permanently on
display where people can just see it
all the time.

Bullshit!

You know, if someone
walks into a warehouse

and find a Banksy sprayed
on a gas cannister,

fair enough, yeah, but if you're
going round ripping it off a public
wall

and taking it out the side of
somewhere, you're making the city a
poorer place.

It's just a very 21st-century,
self-centred, narcissistic thing to
do.

And they should be punished.

Corporally. Death.

And there we are.
We have Banksy going to his new
home.

But it doesn't matter because
if we turn around by here,

we have Banksy on my wall.

They're now moving it
and putting it inside a building.

That's not street art, it's building
art.

It's not the same.
It's got no meaning downtown.

It was done here to cover the
steelworks. It's got a meaning.

It should be left out on the street
for everybody to enjoy.

That's what he's done it for.

Banksy doesn't do it to sell them.

You know, he proved that with
his painting that he shredded.

Um, no, all they want to do
is make money from it.

I will miss him now.

I'll be opening my gate
and what have I got?

A big hole in the wall!

Yes. That's not good.

That's not good.

Banksy is so careful about
where pieces should be placed

and he doesn't particularly mind
if they stay there only for a time,

but they shouldn't be taken
out of that place

for gosh knows how much money.

I don't know what he's doing.

Is he taking it down?

Artwork
attributed to British artist Banksy

was stolen at some point
on Saturday night in Paris.

Exclusive video of
guys who decided to scale a
building,

cut down the latest Banksy work
and...

Right now, Banksy is one
of the ten most highly rated artists

in the contemporary art market.

As soon as one of Banksy's pieces
is taken down from a wall,

someone sells it at auction.

I think his work
is more wanted than he is.

The thieves tore off the entire
door.

This stencil piece using white paint

was drawn on one of
the back doors of Bataclan

in memory of the victims
killed at the music venue

on 13th November 2015
by a group of terrorists.

Having a Banksy that's taken
off a wall and being sold,

I just think is morally
and ethically really wrong.

For a decade, I was making money
out of Banksy street works

and I saw absolutely nothing wrong
with what I was doing.

I recall sitting in my delicatessen
down in Kent,

and I got a call from a colleague
saying, "Have you seen the new
Banksy?"

And I was like, "Really? Another
Banksy?"

And by this point, I was sort of,
not famous for it, but I was known,

notorious for the guy who goes and
takes Banksy's away and upsets
everyone.

And I said, "Send me a picture."
And he sent me a picture of this

really ugly mural on a wall.

But I saw its potential
to make considerable money.

"Art Buff" is an elderly lady.

She's got one of those headsets on

that you go to a gallery and
somebody's telling what the artwork
means,

and in the front there is a plinth.

And the plinth is empty.

My intention was to make as much
money as I possibly could.

I had good contacts at the Miami Art
Fair. I'd been there a number of
times.

I had the credentials necessary,

and I agreed that we would attempt
to remove the piece

with a team of guys who can pretty
much move anything on the planet.

I should have perhaps realised what
they were going to do because

they come in and start
covering the area with scaffold

and chopping the Banksy out of the
wall.

We started about eight o'clock
in the morning.

As the noise echoed across
Folkestone,

suddenly more and more people
started appearing.

And it was clear that they were
carrying protest placards.

They were vehemently against
what was going on.

It felt like we were being robbed
of Folkestone's Banksy.

You know, we believed
it belonged to our town.

You know, we wanted to benefit from
it

and to see it every day.

We could be quite smug. "We've got
a Banksy. Have you got a Banksy?"

It was a bit like that.

I mean, these were relatively
middle-class, working-class,

small-town folk who suddenly turned
into these sort of harridans and
monsters

screaming abuse at us
and my construction guys.

I mean, it wasn't just verbal abuse,
it was physical abuse.

It was just, "No, why are you taking
it? How can it be taken away?"

And I think the fact that everyone
felt it was being taken away for
money

was even more frustrating.

Everybody ran up there.
They're trying to stop it happening.

And then Robin Barton,
"Bankrobber" as he's know, a
gallerist,

he is there, walking around,
winding everybody up

and telling them that he had
total rights to take it.

Cos the more upset you are,
the more noise there is.

The more noise there is,
the more media there is.

The more media there is,
the more value there is.

It was a long, long day. I mean,
it was 14 hours of drilling and
cutting.

And we finally pulled the last piece
of the wall out around about sunset.

And off it flew out to Miami.

By putting it in Miami,

the contrast would be so great
from where it originally came from.

A broken down,
Third World town of Folkestone

and then you've got
the glitz and glamour of Miami.

And having all the Americans staring
at it was quite appealing to me.

As you came into Art Miami, there it
was, boomph, right in the middle,

with a price tag of
half a million dollars on it.

There's of course a certain irony
about selling an artwork

for a huge amount of money
to a collector about the vacuousness

of the collecting of artwork and
how value is put on art and so on.

But it was painted to go on that
wall. It was painted to be in an
urban setting.

And we'd actively got involved
in trying to bring it back.

Because it's an illegal act
and put out there in the street,

covertly without permissions,

there is no copyright issue
whatsoever.

The person who owns that wall,
that door, that window, that floor

is the owner of that artwork
and it gives me the right,

on behalf of those freeholders,
to sell the works.

-So it's legal?
-It's completely legal as long as,

and this is the critical mass,
as long as the freeholder

can prove without question
they are the freeholder.

But that doesn't tell you
who emotional owns it.

It's emotionally owned by
the people of the town going,

"This is Folkestone's Banksy.

I'm from Folkestone. It's my
Banksy."

Whilst I was sunning myself in Miami
and drinking I know not what,

I got a lawyer's letter
saying we have discovered

there is a greater freeholder
and that the Godden family

were indeed not the freeholders
of the building.

At this point, it was game over.

I was forced to dip my hands in my
pocket

and pay for it to be
returned to Folkestone.

It's good that we've got one,
it's good that we've kept it.

No one can touch it now.
It's our Banksy.

Owned by Folkestone.

Hands off.

So you can see that
the whole piece looks amazing,

but if you get slightly closer up,
you can see there's this chop here,

that the paint is cracked
and it's where the saw came

and just cut this out of the wall.

And that's, um, you know...

The thing about Banksy is the story
is as much of the artwork.

It's never just the painting.
It's what happens afterwards.

How people talk about it.
People demonstrating on the streets.

People saying, "That's ours
and you can't take it!"

So I don't mind these cuts,
cos I think people will be able to

understand the story better with
these little marks that are going
through it.

Don't mess with Folkestone,
that's the moral of the story,

cos we love art in this community.

I don't feel guilty about
anything I did in Folkestone.

And whereas Banksy clearly set his
stall up as being Robin Hood of the
art world,

I suddenly realised, there I was,
the Sheriff of Nottingham.

I was the bad guy, he was the good
guy.

Now, I watch movies.
Who do I want to be? The bad guy.

Banksy, I suppose, is up here
just looking down at this little

thing he made.
It's just a massive old circus.

-What do we want?
-Banksy back!

-When do we want it?
-Now!

Save our Banksy!

Society has embraced him
to such a point

where he has become
part of the establishment.

Possibly something he'd
kick against if he could,

but I'm not sure that creating a
prank at Sotheby's with "Girl with
Balloon"

is a good way of distancing yourself
from all the things that he
dislikes.

A stunt like no other.

The iconic image known as
"Girl with the Balloon"
self-destructs.

A Banksy painting sells at auction
for $1.4 million.

I'm frustrated that it didn't shred
completely because I think

a wholly shredded picture
with just bits and pieces

lying on the floor is
not worth much money.

I mean, if the buyer got these bits
and pieces, what she supposed to do?

Stick them together?

It wasn't a destructive process.
It was a change.

And, of course, in the end,
he gave the painting a new name,

a new date and now
it's a different work.

So, you criticise the market but you
give it what it wants at the same
time.

So, yes, I think I found that was a
bit...

a bit lame really.

Since Sotheby's,

there's been a change in
the public's perception of him.

Because, yes, he's great,
yes, he's got things to say,

but his criticism of the market,

which is what makes him popular
and gives his artwork value,

is beginning to make people wonder.

They are starting
to doubt his sincerity.

After the event, we had
probably around fifty to sixty

enquiries on Banksy
"Girl with Balloon" print.

So, yes, the demand went sky high,

um, especially with
"Girl with Balloon", um...

Does he
make money from that?

Indirectly, I'm sure he does.

-How?
-Um...

-I can't say.
-You can't?

No, because I'm very good friends
with my collectors

-and they can't see me saying that,
sorry. -OK.

He's become a capitalist, like...

like his good friend Robin Barton.

There was so much money being made
by Banksy and by his entourage,

and by his colleagues, friends,

that it becomes
a self-fulfilling prophecy.

That you become the very person that
you didn't like when you started
out.

You become the person
sitting in an ivory tower.

Can you have a relevant voice

when you're so removed from the very
thing you started talking about?

He still has an agent. He has a
manager.

There's definitely a lot of people
working really hard to protect him.

Banksy is not the guy
with the spray can any more.

He's a lot bigger than that.

Banksy is so famous now and he
keeps putting himself in situations

and doing really big things that
we deserve to know who he is.

And I think the journalist who one
day will reveal him will be...

will go down in the history books
for being the guy or the girl who

revealed who Banksy was.

My source, um,

decided that he wants
to stay anonymous.

He's a forensic expert.

Due diligence.

Looks through companies
and the owners of companies

to see the trails there.

I'd like to remain anonymous

because I just don't want
any kind of exposure.

It's just an itch I needed to
scratch and I was just intrigued by
the whole thing.

I don't need any kind of hate mail
for exposing Banksy,

cos there would probably be a bunch
of people who were very angry

if it turned out I was right.

Banksy has just released a
documentary,

"Exit Through The Gift Shop".

And it got a bit of noise at that
time

and then it got nominated
for an Academy Award,

and he was still trying
to claim that he was

some sort of anonymity,

which is impossible if you're
making any film like that.

As soon as business is involved,

and you want to make
some money out of that,

you have to register companies
and the money has to go somewhere.

And then there is a paper trail.

So I looked up what
the production company was.

It was a company called
Paranoid Pictures.

And if you look through
this company document

and the annual return,

you'll find that it's actually owned
by another company

called Pest Control Office Ltd.

This is a company that is
solely there to verify Banksy

works of art to make sure
that they're not fakes

and they've really actually
been made by Banksy himself.

So this company is the owner
of Paranoid Pictures.

But if you look through
the annual return here...

this in itself is owned by a company
called Picturesonwalls Ltd.

So if you go to Picturesonwalls Ltd
and looking through this annual
return...

at the time of my investigation,

you can see that the sole owner
is Jamie Hewlett.

Jamie Hewlett, the founder of
Gorillaz.

It makes sense.

Gorillaz, Banksy.
He's in their music video.

He is... Yeah.

I... I just thought, "This is him."

Gorillaz is a fake band.

They're not actually humans.
They're meant to be these
characters,

which is very close to what
Banksy's doing as well.

The other guy in Gorillaz, Damon
Albarn,

has another band called Blur

and Banksy made the front cover
for their album.

This Blur album cover

is designed by Banksy himself.

If you look at this still here from
one of the Gorillaz's music videos,

that is a Banksy in the actual
music video itself.

And it was surprising to see that
everything just kind of added up.

Another thing...
I may be clutching at straws here,

but a few years ago when
Banksy opened up his hotel,

some tourist hosted video footage
of who he or she believed

may have been Banksy spotted.

This person had been uncovered
doing these graffiti stencils

around the corner from the hotel.

He actually looks like Jamie Hewlett
from certain kind of facial
similarities.

Wow! I'm gonna reveal who Banksy is.

It was too good, the information
was too good not to publish.

Since I made a bit of a noise,

the very next annual return, in
2017.

If you look here,

Jamie Hewlett has
transferred all his shares

to someone called Marcus Samuel
Chambers.

So if I was suspicious,
which of course I am,

there has been a reaction to my
action.

It's a very kind of fun idea,
like using A.I. to see where people
are

based in the world at any one point
but this is a pretty black and white
theory

which you can't deny.

Joanna Brooks emailed me...
She's Banksy's publicist.

...saying Jamie Hewlett is not
Banksy.

But she made a mistake and she
spelt Hewlett with an "i" not an
"e".

Which is wrong.

So I thought, "Is this
a sneaky way of not lying?"

So if we do reveal him now
and we said, "But you lied!"

She will say, "No,
cos I didn't spell it the right
way."

If it's not Jamie Hewlett, I don't
think I believe the other theories
more.

I went through every single story
that had been written on Banksy to
get clues.

Where he had been, who his friends
were.

There was one picture that
supposedly was Banksy in Jamaica

and it had been published
in the Evening Standard,

and then it sort of
mysteriously disappeared

and nobody knew who owed
the copyright any more.

It was part of the mystery around
Banksy.

Finally, I found someone
who knew who he was.

Someone that had interviewed Banksy,

that knew Banksy,
that knew who Banksy was

and told me that he was called
Robin Gunningham.

First of all, I found out everything
about Robin Gunningham I could.

His birth certificate, his parents'
names.

I did his full family tree with his
sisters and cousins and relatives.

And then I looked on the Electoral
Roll.

And all the places he'd lived seemed
to be places where Banksy had lived.

So I was fairly confident
when I went down to Bristol

with a team of people that
I worked very well with to prove it.

I wanted to do it quickly because I
didn't want another journalist to
get the story.

We spoke to someone called Luke
Egan,

who denied knowing Robin Gunningham,
but he'd lived with him.

We spoke to a woman who had moved
into a flat after Robin Gunningham
had left,

and she had discovered some
old discarded Banksy drawings.

I think the final piece in the
jigsaw

was the fact that one of the
neighbours of where Robin grew up

identified that initial photograph
from Jamaica as Robin Gunningham.

And I interviewed someone
who went to school with him

and he had a photograph of him at
school

and it looked similar to the picture
that was taken in Jamaica.

And when I spoke to Mr Gunningham,

he was laughing and smiling
and saying, "I can't comment."

And I said, "Well, look, if your son
is a teacher in Birmingham,

you must tell me because I'm going
to put in the paper on Sunday that
he's Banksy."

And he just said,
"I can't possibly say anything."

Nobody, apart from Banksy's father,

would have played games with me
the way he did.

If you are familiar with
the artist known as Banksy,

he's never publicly shown his face.

Now though, Banksy may have
actually been unmasked.

Who is Banksy?

Banksy's name could be
Robin Gunningham, a native of
Bristol.

The article claims
Robin Gunningham, who's now 35,

was great at art at school.

Banksy had a background
that was posh and privileged

if this article is to be believed.

He went to school here,
the Bristol Cathedral School.

It's hardly the background
of someone who's made his name

from being "hip" and "street".

Geographic profiling is a criminal
investigative methodology.

It was designed to help
prioritise suspects

and manage information
in a large-scale serial crime case.

So if we have a serial murder,
there's a pattern to where they hunt

and the locations where the offender
is most likely based.

I was a member of
the Vancouver Police Department

and because I had
a background in mathematics,

I wondered about what you might be
able to extract, in terms of
information,

from a pattern of crime locations.

What I'm showing right now
is the top five per cent of the area

for the art that Banksy did
while he was in New York City.

I was able to find information
on 31 of his graffiti artworks.

So I put it into the Rigel System,
which I have open here.

And you can see here Manhattan.

And the dark orange shows the most
probable area for Banksy's base.

This could be where
he was staying in a hotel,

or if he was crashing at
a friend's apartment or condo,

between Union Square Park,
Washington Square Park

and it's roughly northern
Greenwich Village.

Well, it doesn't tell us anything
about Gunningham or about other
suspects,

but it would be, um,
if he were still in New York,

where you would probably want
to focus your search efforts for
him.

Now, if no one tried to
find out who Banksy was,

well, it would all be
rather boring, wouldn't it?

This map here shows you,
through the red dots,

locations associated
with Banksy's artwork.

Blue dots, locations associated
with Robin Gunningham,

such as, where did he live?
Where did he go to school?

Where did he work? Anything
that you could associate with him.

If we had multiple Banksy suspects,

we could see which ones
came out best but we don't.

So the idea is that you look at this
and you see, well, that compared
quite well.

So that elevated the probability

of him being the correct suspect
to a certain degree.

We're not proving anything here.

All we're doing is saying, here's
some evidence that either supports

the Gunningham theory
or doesn't support it.

In the end, it supported it quite
well.

Yeah, this is a science
used to find criminals,

instead used to catch an artist,

the person behind this - Banksy.

And scientists say they're 90% sure
they have their man.

The spatial evidence of the artworks

supports the theory that he
is the suspect, that he is Banksy.

Mystery solved? Don't bank on it.

Robin Gunningham, this "public
schoolboy".

I don't think that this person
ever existed.

I have a feeling that's another one
of our fake news things maybe.

Maybe it's not.

There is regular
speculation about his identity,

probably in order to blur the lines.

I think he's probably got
something to do with that.

Everyone likes to have another
theory about Banksy.

There's nothing saying...

we can guarantee this is a man.

The weird thing is, like, the Banksy
pieces, anybody could do it.

If Banksy gave me the stencil
and I bought some spray paint,

I could go out and do it.

Banksy might have operatives
all over the world.

Maybe he's got like sleeper cells
in every city.

He's almost definitely
hiding somewhere amongst it all.

Maybe there isn't even one Banksy.

Maybe the mastermind is actually

a whole group of, I don't know,
10, 15 or 20 people.

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff
going on behind the scenes

regarding Banksy.

Who is he? Actually, I don't really
care. Not that bothered.

So, I'm not giving the game away.

It would be like telling a small
child that Santa Claus didn't exist.

And plus, I think,
the general public made him.

Like, they made this folk hero.

Yeah? And the last thing they want
is for someone to blow that myth.

It has been a very curious
experience

because there seems to be

a sort of conspiracy
to suggest that I'm wrong.

People are like, "You're a fucking
idiot. You've ruined Banksy for me,

because now I know what he looks
like."

My retort is to them is, like,

"Do you know fucking Picasso?"
"Yes."

"Do you like Picasso?"
"Yes."

"Do you know what
fucking Picasso looks like?"

"Yes."

"What fucking difference does it
make?"

I think the fact people
are upset about it

is because there's like
a strong political message.

They don't want to see
the face that tells them it.

They want just to be told it
by someone they don't know.

Everybody wins with him not being
known.

Would Banksy have the same impact
if we knew his name?

Well, probably not.

It's just like Jack the Ripper.

Jack the Ripper's one of the most
infamous serial killers in history.

Maybe people call him
the first serial killer,

but that's not true,
not by a long shot.

But he is perhaps the most famous,

and one of the reasons he's the most
famous is he was never caught.

I suppose at those kind of low times
people reach for the fictional world

and the fantasy,

and they like to feel
that there's some kind of

rescue just around the corner
and there's hope somehow.

Even now that he has a huge
possibility of generating money,

he's stayed very true to the roots

that he would have
grown up around in Bristol.

Which is a large community
of people who are...

helping each other
in a social and cultural way,

and the fact that he
is now finding ways to

benefit hundreds of people from this
incredible achievement that's he's
made,

I think is just a fantastic story.

The renowned and illusive artist
Banksy is weighing in

to help a cash-struck
boys' club in Bristol.

This youth club was another way
where he said, "Right, I'm going to
help them."

It was Sunday, April the 13th.

It was around one o'clock
in the afternoon

and I parked just outside
the boys' club gates.

And I noticed immediately in a
doorway this rather amazing stencil.

As I was sat there waiting,
I couldn't really take my eyes off
it

and I said to my wife, I'm like,
"That looks like a Banksy."

My son came past.

He rang me. He said, "Dad,
you're not going to believe this.

I think we've got a Banksy
outside the club."

I said, "Oh, don't be so stupid.
Don't be so foolish."

I wasn't 100% sure.
I said, "If it's what I think it is,

then you need to get that
protected." You know?

And when I got there, I thought,

"Oh, it looks good. It might be a
Banksy, but, I mean, I don't much
about Banksy's."

All I could see was this young
couple.

They both have their mobile phones.
They were both, in effect,

supposed to be looking
into each other's loving eyes.

And, in fact, they weren't, they
were looked at each other's phones.

It really was quite a poignant
statement about young people today,

that the mobile phone can be a
little bit more important than the
human being.

Somebody would've had to done it,
so I thought I'd go and check my
CCTV.

A white van pulled up
and parked just by

what would be the place where
the "Mobile Lovers" was put.

Two men got out the van.
I couldn't see their faces.

They had hi-vis jackets on
and they had helmets on.

They just looked like any work team.

A gentleman took a picture, drove
off.

And then at 12 o'clock on the 15th,

is when it became known
to the public and the world,
basically,

that there was a new Banksy
for people to see.

And that's when my story began.

In April, a picture
appeared here overnight,

created by the secretive
street artist Banksy.

With a steady stream of visitors
coming to see the latest Banksy
creation...

There had been a period of time
where no new Banksy artworks had
appeared

in Bristol for a while,

and so I was very keen
to see the new artwork.

I actually thought a murder
had been committed outside,

because I'd never seen
so many people with cameras

taking pictures of "Mobile Lovers".

And I'm looking at it and I'm
thinking, "Whoa! This really is a
Banksy."

And we've left it there
for two or three days.

I mean, are we mad?

James, back the other way!

Don't forget your arms. Keep 'em
moving! Come on, you can!

Well done! Keep going!

As soon as he realised it was a
Banksy,

he knew that he was sat on something
that could save the club.

So, you're gonna take it out
nice and slowly.

The problem with the clubs
were that government at the time

and local council were cutting
funding to youth projects.

Boxing really is a fantastic sport.

It's something that is always done
in a boxing club, OK?

We use sport as a platform
to engage young people.

To give them something
to hang their coat on.

This is their place to just grow,
nurture and develop at their pace,

doing what they would like to do
where they know they'll be looked
after.

So I thought, "Do you know what?

We need to take 'Mobile Lovers'
off the wall and we're going to sell
it,

so that we can save the club."

And then we had all of the negative
press and people writing on the
Facebook page,

"What kind of example
are you setting for others?"

"You should be ashamed."

People have taken to Twitter as soon
as they heard this news today.

Some people are calling
Dennis Stinchcombe a vulture.

I guess, street art,
they do it on the streets

so that people will have more access
to it, so it's like a bit of a
shame.

It's gone already before anyone's
got a chance to look at it, so it's
wrong.

Go left!

I started getting death threats.

What gave me that right?
And it went on and on and on.

And this is against a man that's all
he's ever done for 30 years is give

to the people of Bristol and you've
got people saying he should be
killed.

And that was the hard thing, for me.

And finally, the most important
thing that happened,

with all the months of arguments

and discussions and dialogues
and everything else,

was the day that this letter
came through the door.

I got a phone call from Dad
and he's like,

"Sean, you're never going to believe
it. I've only got a letter from
Banksy."

It was like, wow!
This is it or it's not it.

It could be ours, it might not.

And it's almost like I wanted to
read it but I didn't want to read
it.

But there it is now in front of me
and it's like, "Oh, my God!"

"Private and confidential.

Dear Dennis, I hope this finds you
well.

As you know, I recently painted
on a doorway near the club.

This was meant to be
a small visual gift for the area.

But, apparently, a financial one
would have been much more useful.

I don't normally admit
to committing criminal damage,

but seeing as it looks like charges
won't be brought any time soon,

you have my blessing to do what
you feel is right with this piece.

I'm a great admirer of the work
done at the club

and will be chuffed if this
can help in some way.

Your tenacity in the past few weeks
has made for an entertaining
spectator sport.

I assume you're familiar with the
quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln.

'Things may come to those who wait

but only the things left behind
by those who hustle.'

Best wishes, Banksy." And, of
course, he signed it at the bottom.

This letter was incredibly important
and on that day I read it...

Wow! It was like...

I was so happy for him.

Because no one deserves
to be ridiculed on social media

because of a picture, because
he's seen an opportunity to save

a club that he loves
with every part of his body.

He'll never be away from that place.

That's where his soul's going to be.
That's where his heart is now

and that's where his heart
and soul's gonna die.

This piece of graffiti
sprayed on a boarded-up doorway

is now officially worth £403,000.

The money itself won't
just benefit one club here in
Bristol.

It will benefit up to six,
seven or eight of them.

It will go far and wide and it will
touch an awful lot of people.

It is a very good news story
in this city.

This was the most direct way that
he had used the value of his art

for a social purpose.

I think we'd lose some
of the magic if somebody

reveals who he is.

I know exactly who he is cos he was
a member of my club when he was a
lad.

-And I'm not telling you that.
-Why?

I can't.

Everybody I meet goes,
"I know somebody who knows Banksy."

Then there's a few people
who go, "I know Banksy."

But they can't tell you.
Really, I mean, you know, so...

I mean, Donald Trump would love it.

Right, he's always on about leakers.
Banksy has no leakers.

How does it do that?
The White House is loaded with
leakers!

Banksy, no leakers!

Even if he wanted to come out
and become Banksy,

no one's going to believe it.