London builder mistaken for Banksy hits out: “Grow up and get a life”
George Georgiou has hit out at claims that he is the anonymous street art icon.
By Nick Reilly
A London builder has rubbished rumours that he is Banksy, telling those responsible to “grow up and get a life”.
The fiery response comes courtesy of George Georgiou, who has faced accusations that he is the anonymous street art icon ever since he was seen installing a perspex sheet over one of the artworks that appeared in North London in 2024.
A Banksy work appeared overnight on Hornsey Road and Georgiou has explained that he placed perspex around the artwork as a favour to his sons, who owned the building.
But his photo has now come back to the fore in the wake of a new Reuters investigation, which claimed to have evidence “beyond dispute” that Banksy is in fact Bristol-based artist Robin Gunningham.
Gunningham’s name was first mentioned in a 2008 Mail On Sunday investigation, alongside a photo which some have claimed bears a striking resemblance to the man later revealed to be Georgiou.
“I’m not Banksy… It’s really annoying, it’s ridiculous and it’s disturbing. The first day, it was a laugh. It’s a bit of an old joke now,” Georgiou has now told the Daily Mail.
“Grow up. Get a life. If Banksy were to be found, he wouldn’t be standing there [putting Perspex up the next day],” he added. “I’m sure he is well enough endowed not to have to go there doing building work. He runs in, does what he does and then sods off and disappears. That’s why no one knows who he is.”
Georgiou said he didn’t see the similarities between himself and Gunningham, but joked he wished he was Banksy so that “no one would know who the fuck I am. Unfortunately, they found me”.
He said: “It’s just really annoying because I’m still working. It’s disrupting my day endlessly. “It’s just the day-to-day, every five minutes you pick up the bloody phone and it’s just someone having a giggle. That’s all it is. It’s all harmless stuff, but when you’re trying to get on with your life, it’s just really annoying. It’s just a pain in the butt.”
Asked if he was grateful for the mural, he said: “It’s all been a big waste of time to be honest… It’s a bit of graffiti at the end of the day.
“[The mural] has done nothing. In fact, that side of the wall was due a repaint and we had it on the books to do it that spring,” he added. “Since that happened, we haven’t been able to paint it. It’s all flaky. It looks bloody horrible. Just get rid of it.”
The new Reuters investigation is centred around a trip Banksy made to Ukraine, alongside photographs by former collaborators and even a confession note stemming from an arrest in New York in 2000.
It went on to claim that Gunningham changed his name to David Jones to avoid attention.
Last year, a new artwork from Banksy appeared outside the High Court in London. The graffiti mural was first spotted in September of 2025 and shows a judge swinging a gavel as they attack someone lying on the floor, holding a sign covered in blood.