Staying anonymous is 'crippling', says Banksy

Banksy, the graffiti painter famous almost as much for his talent at evading public exposure as for his rebellious art, has hinted in a rare email exchange with an American reporter that the game of hide-and-seek he plays with the press and his legions of fans may be wearing him down.

"Maintaining anonymity can be kind of crippling," he told Lauren Collins of The New Yorker. The correspondence, reported in an article published in the current issue of the magazine, also reveals what appears to be a diminishing sense that his work, critiquing capitalist society, actually means much any more.

"I originally set out to try and save the world," he said, "but now I'm not sure I like it enough." He also answers critics who have accused him of succumbing to the lure of commercialism as the prices for his works - those not attached to urban furniture like walls and fly-overs - continue to soar.

"I have been called a sellout, but I give away thousands of paintings for free, how many more do you want?" he wrote. "I think it was easier when I was the underdog, and I had a lot of practise at it. The money that my work fetches these days makes me a bit uncomfortable, but that's an easy problem to solve - you just stop whingeing and give it all away. I don't think it's possible to make art about world poverty and then trouser all the cash, that's an irony too far, even for me."

He continues, in the same vein: "I love the way capitalism finds a place - even for its enemies. It's definitely boom time in the discontent industry."

Describing the increasing difficulty of remaining anonymous and the limits it puts on his personal life, he revealed: "I gave a painting to my favourite pub to settle a tab once, which they hung above the bar. But so many people came in asking questions about it I haven't been back there for two years."

The endless pursuit of him by reporters has also had an impact on his friends and associates. "Brad Pitt told a journalist 'I think it's really cool no one knows who he is' and within a week there were journalists from the Daily Mail at the door of my dealer's dad's chip shop, asking if he knew where they could find me."

The media attention that he gets, meanwhile, makes staying under the radar ever more difficult. "Getting your work in the newspapers is a really dumb thing to do if what you do requires a certain level of anonymity. I was a bit slow," the painter admits.

There was, for instance, the media eruption last year after he unveiled a show in Los Angeles warehouse featuring a spray-painted elephant (which Pitt attended). "All the attention meant I lost some of the element of surprise. A few days after the show in Los Angeles opened I was painting under a freeway downtown when a homeless guy ran over and said, 'Hey, are you Binsky?' I left the next day."

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