‘Banksy’ mystery solved as clandestine artist comes forward (and it wasn’t him)
The artist who created a Banksystyle mural which appeared on a wall in Derbyshire has made himself known to the owners of the shop where it was put up.
The man behind the graffiti has since come forward but wishes to remain anonymous.
he is from Matlock and was previously unknown to the owners of the Blood Brothers Stoves shop, in Dale Road, where the artwork appeared.
Following its appearance on Monday, January 4, chatter quickly turned to whether the piece would be removed by the landlord who owns the property.
Sam Blood, owner of Blood Brothers Stoves, said: “The person who put it up ended up coming forward, but they don’t want to be known because of the banter on the Facebook post.
“So he checked with the landlord How we reported the appearance of the mural last week and he said it was all right for it to stay up. So it’ll stay there, unless someone nicks it, I guess.
“We’re happy with it, it’s quirky isn’t it? We’ve had quite a few people look at it and it’s made them smile, so it’s not a bad thing.
“There’s not a lot to do or see, so anything’s better than nothing, isn’t it?
“The landlord approved it on Wednesday, so unless someone steals it or vandalises it, it can stay up for me. It’s pretty cool, so we’re happy with it.
“The guy who did it is from Matlock, it’s just a bit of a random one really. I don’t know if there are any more that are going to go up but it’d be pretty funny if they did.“
Talk turned to whether or not the store had purposely placed the mural there for publicity, but the owners strongly deny this.
Sam said: “If we were doing it for publicity we’d have put it above the shop sign! Might have to ask him to do some rats above the shop or something.”