British DJ Goldie has fuelled speculation concerning one of modern art’s biggest mysteries; in a Distraction Pieces podcast discussing the commodification of graffiti, the musician appeared to refer to infamous street artist Banksy as ‘Robert’, appearing to confirm speculation that the artist is Goldie’s friend and Massive Attack member Robert Del Naja:
“For something like graffiti, which has inspired the world with font or anything to do with anyone wearing a baseball cap and sneakers, at its centre it is still misunderstood.
“But give me a bubble letter and put it on a T-shirt and write Banksy on it and we’re sorted… We can sell it now.
“No disrespect to Rob, I think he is a brilliant artist. I think he has flipped the world of art over.”
It is worth noting that Del Naja, one of the founding members of the group, is himself an acclaimed graffiti artist with his work having featured on all of Massive Attack’s record sleeves. Throughout the 1980s, Del Naja was credited for pioneering the British stencil graffiti movement as well as bringing hip hop and graffiti culture from the USA to Bristol during this period. Goldie and Del Naja are friends, and took part in the largest British graffiti art battle together in the 1980s.
The identity of Banksy is a topic which has long been the subject of intense scrutiny; Del Naja is the latest a long line of people to be unmasked as the world famous artist. An investigative journalist claimed last year that Del Naja was Banksy due to the fact that artworks kept appearing close to Massive Attack gigs around the world. Del Naja himself has previously denied such claims, instead stating that “He’s been to some of the gigs. It’s purely a matter of logistics and coincidence, nothing more than that.”
Previously, wide held speculation linked Bristol-born artist Robert Gunningham to the identity of Banksy; in 2016, scientists at Queen Mary University in London claimed to have ‘tagged’ Banksy through geographic profiling which suggested Gunningham to be the artist after a pattern emerged between the locations of Banksy’s graffiti and addresses with a close association to Gunningham.
In other news, Goldie recently released his newest studio album The Journey Man via his own record label Metalheadz. The 16-track project includes contributions from vocalists Natalie Duncan, Terri Walker, José James and Goldie’s wife Mika Wassenaar Price. It follows his release of The Alchemist: The Best of Goldie 1992-2012, which marked the producer’s 20th anniversary in music. The lead single from the project, I Adore You, can be viewed below:
