Yes, it’s still happening.

From using to geographic profiling to bringing it up in rare interviews, the subject around Banksy and his identity has been the obsession of many for years.

Now, working on the theory that there’s more than one artist, a man has been named.

You see, as with many famous artists, key assistants, both paid and unpaid, have long been a thing – and whether the following identified person is the original Banksy is still up for debate.

So, you ready? From The Daily Beast:

The Daily Beast can reveal the true name of one of the ‘Banksys’ as James Hallewell, a British born street artist believed to have earned his chops in the northern town of Sheffield in the late 1990s.

The “multiple Banksys” idea – provided by a British writer turned Banksy-detective – provides a simple explanation for how a graffiti artist who has daubed tens of thousands of images on walls around the world and even built mock theme parks has managed to avoid identification by mainstream media and hipster blogs.

The British writer is William Kasper, from London, who is reportedly writing a book entitled, ‘The Unusual Suspects’.

In it, he talks about the elusive street artist “famed for his satirical, politically charged street art” as well as making the claim that Banksy is four artists.

The named Banksy, James Hallewell, is a well-known Israeli-British graffiti artist who commonly makes use of mini lego stencils in his artwork (above) under the name Ame72.

This is how Kasper made the connection:

In support of his claim, Kasper has come forward with a nine-year-old picture [above] showing an artist he identifies as James Ame staging a prank at an Israeli checkpoint, laying down a doormat with the word ‘Welcome’ emblazoned on it.

He produced the picture after recognizing [sic] Ame from a recent video, taken by a woman who claimed it showed Banksy at work in Israel.

In fact, as Ame makes clear on his website, ‘Ame’ is a pseudonym.

“Ame72 (pronounced Aim) is his ‘street’ name, the 3 middle letters of his first name followed by the year he was born,” the website says, “It’s an old skool graffiti thing.”

Kasper has always held the theory that there had to be more than one Banksy, saying that:

I never believed Banksy was one person.

The body of work over the last 10 years is too large for one person to accomplish.

This proves the group use different artist names as a cover and all collective members are hiding in plain view.

Whoever came up with that idea is a genius.

Genius indeed.

[source:thedailybeast]