According to "Neon" Researches - Banksy is not Massive Attack Singer
After opinions have been voiced some time ago regarding the identification of legendary street art artist Banksy, the scene magazine "Neon" just disconfirmed the theories of jungle and drum and bass icon Goldie. Banksy is not the singer of Massive Attack.
There have been many guesses in the artist scene pertaining to Banksy´s identity. The Daily Mail published years ago in this context that his real name would be Robin Gunningham, born in Bristol in 1973. Gunningham, whose existence is verified, has actually been hiding around since the year 2000 and had stood in contact with many people knowing Banksy. Moreover, in the year 2014, there was a debate around the thesis that Banksy was an artist collective and would be organized by one or more women.
In autumn 2016, the Scottish blogger and journalist Craig Williams also argued that Banksy was an artist collective and Robert Del Naja – singer and founding member of the British trip hopper Massive Attack – would be the head of the crew. He brought his thesis out with several reasons: Del Naja comes from Bristol. The first stencils of Banksy appeared there. In addition, the Massive Attack founder is a visual artist. He made all the artworks of the band. They mutually took their hats off since Del Naja played in Banksy's film "Exit Through The Gift Shop", or Banksy wrote the speech for the volume "3D & the Art of Massive Attack" in 2015.
A further proof for the assumption, Del Naja could be Banksy, was provided after a detective detail work. Williams compared twelve whereabouts of the band with the simultaneous appearance of Banksy graffitis. He was surprisingly often right in the end.
In June, Jungle and Drum 'n' bass icon Goldie underpinned the theories of Craig Williams. In an interview with the Podcast "Distraction Pieces", he said, "Without wanting to offend Robert, I think he is a brilliant artist, but the art world is going crazy." After that, Goldie paused a few seconds. Del Naja and Goldie are friends and already participated in British Graffiti competitions in the 80s.
Now the "Neon" magazine denies these theses. Editor Nora Reinhardt travelled to West Bank to visit Banksy´s “Walled Off Hotel”. She spoke with Maha Saca, onto whose facade Banksy's famous graffiti with the peace dove in protective vest was sprayed. Banksy asked Saca for permission. Saca could not identify him after Reinhardt presented her a picture of Robert Del Naja.
