44
FEBRUARY 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
WRITING A BOOK ABOUT
Banksy is a bit like writing
a book about the Easter
Bunny—if only because, in
both instances, you’re almost
certainly not going to be able
to speak to your subject. In
fact, so impenetrable is the
shroud of anonymity that surrounds history’s most celebrated street artist, there are
people who believe he doesn’t exist.
British journalist Will Ellsworth-Jones, who spent more than two years writing
Banksy: The Man Behind the Wall
,
didn’t get so much as a glimpse of the artist, but
he remains sure of at least one thing: “Banksy is absolutely not fake.” All efforts to
communicate with the man, however, were rebuffed by a phalanx of handlers. It was,
Ellsworth-Jones says, “an unusual book to write.”
A former chief reporter for
The Sunday Times
,
Ellsworth-Jones has more experi-
ence covering war than art, and the initial idea was to use his boots-on-the-ground
reportorial skills to reveal the artist’s identity—an ambition he quickly abandoned.
“
I started to think that 90,000 words on who Banksy is would get boring,” he says.
“
Also, I don’t think people want to know. They enjoy the mystery.”
All of which raises a question: What
does
the book reveal about its subject?
“
I learned quite a lot about his progress
through life, how he came from nowhere
and ended up si ing on top of this
important art movement,” Ellsworth-
Jones says. “Banksy made quite a few
enemies, but a lot of street artists admit
that without him, they wouldn’t be out
there selling their pieces.”
The more compelling passages in
The
Man Behind the Wall
concern Banksy’s
history of engaging in ba le with his
contemporaries. “I got to meet King
Robbo,” Ellsworth-Jones says, referring to
the tough street artist with whom Banksy
fought most bi erly, and who suffered
a near-fatal accident in 2011. Ellsworth-
Jones recalls a benefit auction in which
Robbo’s peers sought to raise money for
his treatment. So did Banksy set aside the
acrimony and do his bit to help?
“
No,” the author says. “There were no
Banksys there.”
FEB. 12
Will Ellsworth-
Jones On …
Trying to contact
Banksy:
“
He’s very
controlling. He
wanted to control
this book and I
wouldn’t let him.
[
His representatives]
were most unhelpful all
the way along.”
Banksy’s anonymity:
“
I think initially it
was to avoid arrest. Now it’s become a
useful marketing tool.”
Vandalism:
“
It’s difficult for Banksy
nowadays. There are people who want
to steal his work and there are rivals who
want to deface it.”
The establishment:
“
At the moment they
seem to be ignoring [Banksy]. In time,
he will be seen as an important figure in
contemporary art.”
Off the
Wall
British street artist Banksy
is so secretive, even his
biographer hasn’t met him
MOVIES
A Good Day to Die Hard
,
which sees Bruce Willis re-re-re-reprising his John McClane role
//
No
,
a dramatic look at the
presidency of Chilean bad guy Augusto Pinochet
BOOKS
Make It Last Forever: The Dos and Don’ts
,
a collection of relationship advice
by R&B star Keith Sweat
//
The City of Devi
by Manil Suri, PEN/Faulkner finalist for
The Death of Vishnu
TV
NBC’s clever collegiate
comedy “Community,” back for its fourth season
MUSIC
Push the Sky Away
,
the 15th studio album from Nick Cave and the Bad
Seeds
ART
“
Warhol Out West” at Las Vegas’ Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, showcasing the pop artist’s Western-themed works
A
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culture
||
THEMONTHAHEAD
Banksy’s 2006
painting
Pie Face
