This week, perennial favorite of dentists offices and aspiring poets, the New Yorker, devoted almost 6,500 words to the world's most famously anonymous artist, Banksy. But Lauren Collins's piece, while exhaustive in scope, failed to answer the only remaining Banksy question that really counts: Who the hell is he?

The reissue sneaker-obsessed kids over at Complex thought they had figured it out, linking on their site to photos of Banksy that Collins mentioned in her piece—until receiving a cease and desist order, that is. It would have been a coup if the photos hadn't already been published by the UK's Evening Standard in 2004. Asked why she didn't go for the gold, Collins told Radar, "Finding out who Banksy is wasn't the goal of my piece, so I simply reported these varying viewpoints and left it at that." She added, "I don't know who Banksy is any better than you."

Despite the desperate media search, which over the past few years has included Esquire, the New York Times, Swindle, and the Guardian, Banksy remains an unknown. It certainly hasn't hurt his bottom line, though. In fact, as the manhunt for the artist heated up, so did the selling prices of his work. After the jump, Radar looks back on how it pays to keep a low profile.

May 2002: Banksy first enters the UK public consciousness by throwing an illegal street party featuring a mural of the queen as a monkey. His work sells for up to $20,000.

October 2003: Banksy sneaks a painting of a bucolic farm, surrounded by police tape, into London's Tate Britain gallery. Glued to the wall, the picture attracts the attention of security when it crashes to the ground hours after being hung.

March 2005: Donning a trench coat, fedora, and fake beard, Banksy furtively installs his own work in New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History. Some pieces remain up for days before being discovered.

August 2005: Banksy tags Israel's West Bank security wall. Esquire's Colby Buzzell fails, after several pints, to track him down in London four months later.

September 2006: Super fans Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reportedly shell out more than $395,000 for work from Banksy's L.A. show Barely Legal. Pitt is quoted as saying, "He does all this and he stays anonymous. I think that's great. These days everyone is trying to be famous. But he has anonymity."

October 2006: Banksy's last piece of commercial work, the cover to Blur's Think Tank album, goes for $123,000. Banksy grants a rare interview to fellow graffiti legend Shepard Fairey's Swindle magazine.

February 2007: Sotheby's auctions a painting of senior citizens bowling with bombs ("Bombing Middle England") for $200,000.

April 2007: A "self-portrait" of Banksy with a chimp's head sells for $390,000. After the auction Banksy posts on his website, "I can't believe you morons buy this shit."

April 2007: "Space Girl and Bird" sets the all-time record for Banksy, selling at auction for $567,000.

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