Canadian part of team tracking down Banksy
His work is famous and regularly sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
His fans include the likes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
But the identity of the elusive graffiti artist known only as Banksy has been one of the international art world’s most closely guarded mysteries — until now.
Former Canadian police officer D. Kim Rossmo is one of a team of four scientists who believe they may have finally unmasked Banksy.
In a paper just published in the Journal of Spatial Science, they describe how they’ve done so using a mathematical algorithm that has been used to track down criminals, map disease outbreaks and monitor animal feeding patterns.
Their conclusion is that Banksy is most likely 42-year-old Robin Gunningham, a high-school dropout who grew up in a comfortable suburban home in Bristol in western England.
“There’s really only one Banksy suspect,” Rossmo said.
For years, there has been no shortage of theories about the identity of Banksy, the street artist whose stunts include leaving an inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo prisoner in Disneyland and hanging a Mona Lisa with a smiley face in the Louvre.
“Banksy is a very cool artist and I also appreciate his social commentary,” Rossmo said.
Banksy’s spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
“No one knows where he is,” Rossmo said, joking that he may have already met Banksy and not been aware of it.
One of the previous theories about Banksy’s identity is that he’s really a team of seven artists led by a woman.
The Daily Mail first floated the Gunningham theory in 2008.
“He is the Scarlet Pimpermel of modern art, so adept at leaving false trails that even his own agent has claimed that he is not certain of his identity,” the Daily Mail wrote in July 2008.
It’s easy to wonder if Banksy enjoys the fame of being unknown. “I’m not certain how much privacy someone wants who paints large graffiti on public buildings,” Rossmo said.
Rossmo, who has a doctorate in criminology, is now director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation in the School of Criminal Justice at Texas State University. He once headed the Vancou- ver Police Department’s geographic profiling section and issued a public warning in 1998 that a serial killer was on the loose in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, before the arrest of murderer Robert Pickton.