Banksy Revealed; sold out by the murky reggae underworld

It turns out that notorious graffiti street artist Banksy visited Jamaica back in February of 2004 where he met Rickards of Afflicted Yard during a Two Culture Clash album and DVD project that Banksy did cover artwork for. On July 30th, 2004, Rickard's photographs of Banksy appeared in the Evening Standard under the headline, "Unmasked at Last: First picture of Banksy, Graffiti Outlaw Wanted for Art Terrorism". He visited the reggae singer Buju Banton, at his studio, and the Jamaician Photographer Rickards documented the occasion and then later sold the images to The Evening Standard. Complex Magazine has republished the photos that they found after researching the Afflicted Yard's website on archive.org.

From Gawker: Until now, Banksy was known only through his tongue-in-cheek stunts and his vaguely anti-establishment stencils. Thanks to some legal gymnastics, Banksy is finally revealed. And surprise! He looks just like an Average Dude. Now this is either good news or bad news. If you like your artists quirky, say like Dali or Kristian Laliberte, that such works as a painted elephant emanated from such a jejune fellow is bound to be disappointing. However, if you're a fan of Jeff Koons and Gerhard Richter and other boring-looking artists, you might find it uplifting that such work flows from such a bland container.

I think it was cooler when no one knew who the fuck he was or what he looked like. Peoples need for info can be annoying sometimes. Leave SOMETHING to the imagination, will ya? Great, now we know what Banksy looks like and he looks like a regular dude. Wasn't it cooler when you could speculate or imagine or tell your friends it was your cousin like everyone did when the Jerky Boys first came around?

Banksy Revealed - Photos Resurface on Complex's Blog