Banksy finally unmasked in only known photos of the elusive artist

These are the only known pictures of Banksy — the elusive artist who was recently unmasked as Robin Gunningham, 52, from Bristol in the UK.The most recent image — taken nearly 20 years ago — emerged after he had a falling out with a photographer, who derided him as a “stencilist” who had his head up his own “redneck ass.”Gunningham later changed his name to David Jones in 2008 to help hide him in plain sight, according to a a detailed Reuters investigation.One of the pictures shows him wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt over a white T-shirt, jeans, and sunglasses, crouching down and smiling, with a spray can at his feet.The photograph was taken in 2004 while Banksy was on a trip to Jamaica to meet up with local photographer, Peter Dean Rickards.Rickards had been on assignment for the record label Wall of Sound, who had signed Banksy up to produce artwork for album covers.But the pair reportedly had a falling-out when they met in the Jamaican capital, Kingston.“What we object to are people like Banksy who go around spewing pseudo-humanitarian bulls–t to explain their ‘art,'” Rickards wrote in a since-deleted post on his website.Rickards, who died in 2014, branded Banksy “just some wannabe-punk ‘stencilist’ with his head stuck incredibly far up his own redneck ass.”He did not reveal Banksy’s name in the post, but did share 21 photos of the artist at work in Jamaica.One of those photos was published by London’s Evening Standard newspaper in July 2004 under the headline, “Unmasked at last.”At the time, Banksy’s then-manager Steve Lazarides denied that the picture showed the artist, insisting it was “someone else.”However, the picture, compared with footage of Banksy from interviews taken in the late 1990s, shows a matching bracelet and watch on his left arm, matching brown and bristly hair, glasses, an earring in his left ear, and a distinctive tattoo on his left forearm, the Reuters investigation found.The only other known ...