WE KNOW WHO BANKSY IS. SO WHAT?

When you've built your artistic brand on anonymity, you might think that being outed is fatal.

- SCOTT GARCEAU

“Robin Gunningham” in Jamaica in a photo published by UK tabloids in 2008.

Then again, it wasn't so when '80s street artist SAMO revealed himself to be Jean-Michel Basquiat, and I'm not so sure it spells the end for Banksy, either.

Reuters recently concluded a long investigation ("The Search for Banksy," March 13) that traces itself back to 2000 Manhattan, where they unearthed a police complaint against a man caught defacing a Marc Jacobs billboard. The final piece of the puzzle: the obscure street artist who paid bail to get out of custody was named "Robin Gunningham" - a name that had already been revealed by UK's Evening Standard and The Mail On Sunday in 2008, though those tabloids couldn't definitively pin down the Bristol man photographed in Jamaica as "Banksy." Reuters finally connected all the dots. The puzzle was solved. (We could only wish that Reuters applied such keen investigatory skills to finding out, say, who killed Jeffrey Epstein.)

The question remains: So what? Does it matter that the identity of one of the most iconically famous yet anonymous artists of the last 50 years has been outed?

The artist known as Banksy is a set of contradictions. He has benefited from anonymity, calling it his "superpower." Yet he remains one of the most well-known names in modern art, even if his face has been a mystery - until now. (He seems intent on backing away from the revelation and staying underground.)