BANKSY — Iconic Anonymous Street Artist

Perhaps the most famous figure in street art working today, Banksy is known for urban interventions that demonstrate irreverent wit and a biting political edge. Enhancing his mystique by maintaining an anonymous identity, the artist has modified street signs, illegally printed his own currency, and illicitly hung his own work in the Louvre and the Museum of Modern Art. He often uses spray paint and stencils in his critiques of consumerism, political authority, terrorism, and the status of art and its display. His street art, installations, and studio-produced works have been shown in Los Angeles, New York, London, Bethlehem, and beyond. His art has been subject to widespread interest on the secondary market and has fetched eight figures at auction.

Banksy, a street artist whose identity remains unknown, is believed to have been born in Bristol, England, around 1974. He rose to prominence for his provocative stenciled pieces in the late 1990s. Banksy is the subject of a 2010 documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, which examines the relationship between commercial and street art. The two names most often suggested to prove his identity are Robert Banks and Robin Gunningham. Pictures that surfaced of a man who was supposedly Banksy pointed toward Gunningham, an artist who was born in Bristol in 1973. Gunningham moved to London around 2000, a timeline that correlates with the progression of Banksy's artwork.

Banksy began his career as a graffiti artist in the early 1990s, in Bristol's graffiti gang DryBreadZ Crew. Although his early work was largely freehand, Banksy used stencils on occasion. In the late '90s, he began using stencils predominantly. His work became more widely recognized around Bristol and in London, as his signature style developed. Common subjects include rats, apes, policemen, members of the royal family, and children. In addition to his two-dimensional work, Banksy is known for his installation artwork. One of the most celebrated of these pieces, which featured a live elephant painted with a Victorian wallpaper pattern, sparked controversy among animal rights activists. Among his other famous works is Girl with Balloon (2002) and its later transformation into Love is in the Bin, a shredded canvas stunt at auction that became a global media phenomenon.

While we do not currently have works by this artist in inventory, we offer sourcing services for blue-chip artworks and can assist with acquisition opportunities upon request.

Banksy's worldwide fame has transformed his artwork from acts of vandalism to sought-after high art pieces. Journalist Max Foster has referred to the rising prices of graffiti as street art as "the Banksy effect." Interest in Banksy escalated with the release of the 2010 documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for an Academy Award.

In October 2013, Banksy took to the streets of New York City. There he pledged to create a new piece of art for each day of his residency. As he explained to the Village Voice, "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." During that month, he also sold some of his works on the street for $60 a piece, well below the market value for his art.

Despite his guerilla‑style origins and anonymity, Banksy’s works have fetched high prices at auction, and his pieces, when authenticated and sold, now reside in private collections worldwide. Because many of his original street murals exist on public walls or building facades, they often remain temporary, removed, painted over, or erased; as a result, only a subset of his output is “collectible” in traditional art‑market terms. To handle authentication and protect value, Banksy established a dedicated bureau for verifying genuine works rather than relying on gallery representation, a rare institutional arrangement reflecting his ambivalent relationship with the commercial art world.

Explore Banksy at DTR Modern Galleries

Banksy has had massive influence on street art worldwide, redefining what graffiti can be: not simply vandalism but potent social commentary, street‑level protest, and global pop‑culture statement. His bold anonymity, refusing to reveal his identity even as his fame skyrocketed, preserves the mystique around his work, making each new piece a surprise and forcing viewers to confront content rather than celebrity. By bridging street walls, gallery spaces, film, and public installations, Banksy has expanded the boundaries of what “art” can be: ephemeral and political, commercial and clandestine all at once. Explore Banksy’s work at DTR Modern Galleries contemporary gallery locations in Boston, New York, Palm Beach and Washington D.C.