| Net Worth: | $20 Million |
|---|---|
| Age | 45+ |
| Country of Origin: | United Kingdom |
| Occupation: | Artist, Political activist and Film director |
| Years Active: | 1990–present |
| Last Updated: | Oct 2018 |
Banksy is a world-renowned mystery man and arguably one of the most controversial street artist in the world. He is a street artist, political activist and film director based in England. He started his artistry in the Bristol underground scene and he has now developed an entire art sub-culture devoted to his works. Banksy displays his art on publicly visible locations such as streets, walls, bridges and locations around the world. His work are passionate as it touches on topics like poverty, capitalism and the government. Even after being in the scene for over 20 years, his identity is anonymous. This mere fact adds to the curiosity around his name and works.
Banksy’s net worth is $20 millions. (Forbes)
Banksy’s Books.
- Banksy, Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)
- Banksy, Existencilism (2002)
- Banksy, Cut It Out (2004)
- Banksy, Wall and Piece (2005)
- Banksy, Pictures of Walls (2005)
- Banksy, You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat (2012)
Banksy’s Net Worth, Life & Quotes
Banksy’s Early Life.
Banksy is believed to have been born and raised in south Gloucestershire, 12miles (19.3km) away from Birstol center and started painting at the age of fourteen (14) According to Daily Mail in 2008, Robin Gunningham is the real Banksy and some sources have also claimed that due to how fast and complex and over-night most of Banksy’s arts come to life in locations, Bansky might be a team and not a single person. He has been active in the graffiti scene since the early 1990s.
Apparently, at the age of 18, Banksy chose stencils as his choice of tool for his creative process after he almost got caught vandalizing public spaces by the police. By the early 2000s, he returned to London where he began to gain notoriety and also worked on some international exhibits. As he has refused to be interviewed or come forward to reveal his identity, very little is known about him.
Banksy’s Career.
Banksy started as a graffiti artist as a member of one of Bristol’s DryBreadZ crew (DBZ) with two other artists known as Kato and Tes. He turned to stenciling as his style of art considering the fact that it took less time to complete his works, according to him, he started using stencil while hiding from the police under a waste lorry.
Stenciling allows for quick turnaround for his types of art. One his first known large wall art was is 1999 drawing at No 8 Stokes Croft, Bristol which depicts a teddy bear throwing a Molotov cocktail at three (3) riot police men. This art which has been admired and loved by thousands in Bristol was vandalized with red paint by an anti-graffiti organisation called Appropriate Media.
His humorous yet touching style of art makes you either laugh, smile or put your head down to think about the deeper meaning behind each piece. His messages and arts revolves around anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment.
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His exhibitions include “Existentialism” in Los Angeles, Turf War in London where he painted on animals, Barely Legal which had a live elephant in a room. The elephant was painted in a pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern, the intention of this exhibition was to bring awareness and draw attention to the issue of world poverty.
Some of the sale of his work includes his artwork of Queen Victoria as a lesbian which was purchased by Christina Aguilera for £25,000. A set of Kate Moss paintings (which was a painting similar to the style of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe’s picture) sold for £50,400 in Sotheby’s London, a stencil painting of Mona Lisa with real paint dripping from her eyes sold for £57,600.
His painting “Bombing Middle England” sold for £102,000. “Ballon Girl” and “Bomb Hugger” sold for £37,200 and £31,200 respectively. “Ballerina with Action Man Parts” sold for £96,000, “Glory” sold for £72,000; “Untitled” sold for £33,600. On April 2007, his painting “Space Girl and Bird” sold for £288,000 (US$576,000) around 20 times the estimate at Bonhams of London.
In 2013, Banksy performed a social experiment where he had an old man sell originals of his work on the street for $60, those piece of art will be worth nothing less than £23,000 each. Only three (3) people purchased; a tourist from New Zealand, a woman who bought a couple of paintings for her kids, and a man from Chicago. https://youtu.be/zX54DIpacNE
He parted ways with his long time agent Steve Lazarides and announced that the company “Pest Control” would act on his behalf and would be the only legitimate source and point of sale of his new works. In a post on his website, Banksy featured a picture of auction attendees with the caption “I can’t believe you morons buy this sh**!” One of his most recent art that made headlines is the “Balloon Girl” which was sold in an auction in Sotheby’s in London for a record £1.04 Million.
Very shortly after the painting was sold (which you can see in the video below), an alarm sounded inside of the picture and the canvas passed through a shredder which was hidden within the frame, which partially shredded the picture. This was both a costly and hilarious prank by Banksy. This stunt received world wide news and will greatly increase the value of the artwork.
Banksy’s net worth is believed to be $20 Million. (Forbes)
Banksy’s Media Section.
Banksy’s Self-Destructive Art
Inspiring Quotes from Bruce Buffer
“Your mind is working at its best when you’re being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity.” – Banksy
“The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It’s people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages..” – Banksy
“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable..” – Banksy
“Think outside the box, collapse the box, and take a fucking sharp knife to it.” – Banksy
“Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else. ” –Banksy
Summary.
Although critics say that Banksy is nothing but a vandal and his work is only clever to idiots, you cannot deny his fame. Virtually every aspect of Banksy’s work is controversial, and perhaps that is the secret behind his success.
Banksy’s net worth is $20 million. (Forbes)
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