How Does Banksy Stay Anonymous And Make Money?

People have been speculating over who he could be for years, but none of these theories have ever been proven. And despite this anonymity, the verified works attributed to him continue to sell for huge sums of money. Which begs the question — if no one knows his real identity, how does Banksy actually make money?

Who Is Banksy?

Bansky's identity has never been officially confirmed but that hasn’t stopped many from speculating over who he could be. There has been intense speculation over Banksy’s identity. London’s Mail on Sunday identified the artist as a man named Robin Gunningham from Bristol in the UK, and this was corroborated by many of Gunningham’s associates and former classmates. This was supported by a 2016 study showing that Gunningham’s known movements correlated with Banksy’s artworks. Others believe that Banksy is 3D, Banksy’s former collaborator in the DryBreadZ (DBZ) Crew of graffiti artists, while comic book artist Jamie Hewlett is a suspect too. Another theory is that he is Damien Hirst’s alter-ego. None of these claims have ever been proven, and given how much the mystery feeds into Banksy’s brand, he won’t be giving up his identity in a hurry.

How Has Banksy Concealed His Identity For So Long?

Banksy kicked off his career in the 1990s, and has managed to keep his identity under wraps in the decades since. His signature stencil style has been key in allowing him to preserve his anonymity, as he can complete his work much more quickly by following this method compared to painting freehand.

In this day and age, it seems almost impossible that somebody so famous has managed to escape detection for so long, but according to his former agent Steve Lazarides, Banksy has used some very creative methods to stay anonymous. “It’s amazing what you can do with a high-vis jacket and some cones. Obviously, he couldn’t do it now. But then, I never saw him paint at night. Never,” he told Sky News in 2019. Another one of their tricks involved a fake film where “Banksy would have a piece of paper, purportedly from [Lazarides] as a producer, telling him where to go and paint and that he had permission to paint there for this fictitious film”.

How Does Banksy Make Money?

Seeing as nobody knows who Banksy is, it begs the question: how exactly does he get paid? Like the majority of street artists, he doesn’t actually make any money from most of his work due to the fact he paints onto walls rather than canvases. In this respect, his anonymity makes no difference to his profits. However, his fame means that other people have tried to cash in where he cannot. It has become common for art dealers and property owners to remove and sell entire walls which bear an original Banksy.

Now, Pest Control — a website dedicated to authenticating alleged Banksy pieces — is the only point of sale for his new work when it’s available, although new releases are extremely rare. In addition, Banksy has made money from other projects, including his best-selling book Wall and Piece, and the Oscar-nominated documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop.

How Much Money Does Banksy Make?

Banksy originals are worth staggering amounts of money, but as they are generally sold on the secondary market through auctions, the artist himself doesn’t get a cut. In fact, when Devolved Parliament sold for a record-breaking $12,142,893, Banksy himself commented: “Record price for a Banksy painting set at auction tonight. Shame I didn’t still own it.”

Banksy may not approve of his own commercial value, but as new releases are so rare, those who want to own one of his pieces will usually have no choice but to turn to the secondary market. Current estimates suggest there are only around 30,000 authentic prints in existence, all in understandably high demand. Please contact us if you have any questions about the Banksy artwork for sale here at ArtLife.