Bingo Bob: We're sitting here in a bit of an undisclosed location. Which as you can tell is basically a bathroom. But the reason for all the secrecy is that MSCHF today is speaking with the one and only Banksy, whose identity we're not at liberty to reveal.

But you've got an English accent. You've brought some stencils with you, and we have gone through some pretty impressive cloak and dagger shit to get you here, so I believe I am talking to the real Banksy. It's great to have you, and I guess for the purpose of this interview you can just call me Bingo Bob, and that way we'll both be anonymous.
 
Banksy: Right on, Bingo Bob 

Bingo Bob: Perfect, exactly. 

Bingo Bob: So to start off, I think what most people know about you or... don't know about you… is your identity. You're an anonymous artist, can you just tell me a little bit about the power that being anonymous gives you? 

Banksy: Think how terrible it would be to be a graffiti artist to become well recognized. You'd stop being free to do the work. You can't scout locations. You can't do any of the actual work once the cat is out of the bag.

Bingo Bob: Is it a weakness at all, though? It does mean that anybody could impersonate you.

Banksy: I guess they could. But, for the most part no one else really does what I do as well as I do it, and a lot of people recognize when it's not really me, so...I'm not worried about it.

Bingo Bob: I guess your stuff isn't commercial, per say, but you do sell a lot of art, I assume for a lot of money...you've just gotta be rich as hell at this point? 


Banksy: Well…  yeah… But I'm not like, fucking Damien Hirst. I think he's gonna die of gout. 

Bingo Bob: You're anonymous right? You could do like a stencil on the wall… Maybe you're not happy with it. You could just say it's not yours. Have you ever done that? 

Banksy: Yes.

Bingo Bob: Why? 

Banksy: I dunno...Doesn't slap. Nobody noticed it. Maybe it didn't get interpreted the right way. That's part of the freedom of not putting your name on everything you do.

Bingo Bob: What about the other way around? Have you ever claimed work that someone else did? 


Banksy: Also yes. Well it's pretty funny actually. So many people try to copy my style, that sometimes I just say I did it. And it sells, and I get the money. It's like, people with no imagination of their own are free labor for me.

Bingo Bob: Do you think, at this point, graffiti is dead?

Banksy: I don't think I'd say graffiti is dead. A lot of graffiti artists are kind of dead, or maybe they're zombies. Shuffling around, still doing the same thing they were 30 years ago. Only no one thinks it's edgy anymore. Street art is all about repetition, but repetition is a trap.

Bingo Bob: Well you're still out there, you're still doing your stencils and stuff. 

Banksy: Yeah I mean, I am. It's always kinda like, it's my first love. But these days what my work does most effectively is: when I put up a stencil, or paint a wall, it raises the property value. It's like I'm out here trying to put a subversive message into the world, but I'm really just boosting up the landlords. It's kinda hard to get excited about it anymore.

Bingo Bob: Well as a follow up to that idea of Banksy the brand, is he alive? Will he ever die? I mean, you as a human could die, and it might take the world a while to notice. 

Banksy: Well yeah. Who knows? I mean, I could be the first artist to live forever. Maybe Banksy will be an inherited title that gets passed down.

Bingo Bob: I guess we could do maybe a reality show to pick the next Banksy? Like a Ninja Warrior style challenge? Running up ladders...hauling paint. You're anonymous, so everyone would be wearing masks. And you could even judge it. 

Banksy: I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. How about the first person to identify and kill me gets to become the next Banksy?

Bingo Bob: That's a little darker than I was thinking, but I guess speaking of death, you must do taxes, right? “The British IRS” or the “Queen's Special Income Tax Service.” Presumably, the government does know your true identity. 

Banksy: I mean, maybe they do. I don't think the bureaucracy is that interested in art... to be honest. But I imagine there's somebody up there's got a file on me. So, yeah.

Bingo Bob: Thinking about artists working today, who do you think the worst of them all is? 

Banksy: Brian Donnely. No question.

Bingo Bob: So Banksy, inquiring minds always want to know about money. Just how rich are you?

Banksy: What's your problem? What am I supposed to say to that? Richer than that twat Boris Johnson. Less rich than JK Rowling. What do you care? 

Bingo Bob: And yet, you don't own banksy.com. Why not? 

Banksy: I don't care.

Bingo Bob: Well what about job applications? If someone wanted to work for Banksy? 

Banksy: You can't. 

Bingo Bob: You don't have like a internship kinda thing? 

Banksy: Based off this interview, I would consider myself rejected if I were you. 

Bingo Bob: You remember those big metal monoliths people were finding a little bit back around the world? Kinda dumb things. What do you think about those? 

Banksy: I think it was a pain in the ass to make them.

Bingo Bob: Oh, so you did make those? 

Banksy: [silence] 

Bingo Bob: Alright, last question then. Banksy, were you anonymous as a boy> 

Banksy: That was the last question? Was I anonymous as a boy?

Bingo Bob: Yeah I mean, that's all I've got. This has been really great interviewing! 

Banksy: This is dumbest fuckin interview I've ever done! 

Bingo Bob: Thanksy for being here!

Banksy: I'm out of here! I don't care, I can just not say that this was really me.

Bingo Bob: I mean I think our readers would really love to hear this interview. 

Banksy: [stands up from chair] Fuck off! 

Bingo Bob: Alright fine then. Fuck this anonymous bullshit, get the lights on thie guy. 


[MSCHF Mag editor's note]

At this point in the interview Banksy stood up and pulled off his mic, and subsequently knocked into our camera. Our interviewer responded poorly to this situation and threatened to turn on the lights to expose Banksy's identity. This was a breach of our journalistic agreement with Banksy. MSCHF Mag regrets and takes full responsibility for this threat. We have chosen to leave this altercation in the interview for transparency purposes.