What if one of the biggest stars of the trip hop genre were also the most famous street artist of our day?
Journalist Craig Williams says he’s got compelling evidence that Robert “3D” Del Naja is also the anonymous street artist Banksy, known for his cheeky stencil work and other street art projects worldwide, reports the Daily Mail.
Again and again, Williams claims, murals pop up in cities where Massive Attack has staged concerts, shortly after the performances take place. Not only that, but Del Naja was a graffiti artist in the 1980s and professes to be friendly with Banksy.
People photograph a Banksy artwork opposite the French embassy on January 25, 2016 in London, England. The graffiti, which depicts a young girl from the musical Les Miserables with tears in her eyes as CS gas moves towards her, criticizes the use of teargas in the ‘Jungle’ migrant camp in Calais. Courtesy of Carl Court/Getty Images.
Massive Attack, which Del Naja co-founded in Bristol along with Grant “Daddy G” Marshall, debuted with the album Blue Lines in 1991; that LP and 1998’s Mezzanine are cited in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The band has sold more than 11 million records.
To support his theory, Williams offers the following: Massive Attack appeared in San Francisco in late April 2010; a half-dozen Banksy murals appeared May 1. Just days later, the band played in Toronto and Banksy murals popped up in that city. The band took to the stage at the Hollywood Bowl in 2006; Banksy’s “Barely Legal” exhibition took place a week later.
Theories abound about Banksy’s identity. In March, scientists claimed to have used geographic profiling to conclusively identify Robert Gunningham, a popular candidate for the role, as the elusive artist.
England’s Daily Mail claimed to find Gunningham, and ipso facto Banksy, working as a parking attendant at his own “bemusement park” in Somerset, called Dismaland.
A Banksy mural depicting Steve Jobs as a Syrian refugee, via banksy.co.uk.