After seeing it on my list of recommended movies on Netflix for months now, I finally watched Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary directed by famous graffiti artist Banksy. I really didn’t know what to expect from the movie, but I did enjoy it, and got quite a chuckle. The film follows Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash) on his obsessive “film making” project about street art. In reality, this character comes off as more of a joke than anything else. As the movie goes on, I got more of a feeling that it was a mockumentary, rather than an actual documentary.
The movie takes a comic turn when, at Banksy’s suggestion, Thierry decides that he wants to become an artist as well. Making the art himself is the last thing on his mind, however. Instead, he takes out a second mortgage on his house to raise money and hires a team of graphic designers. He apparently comes up with an idea and describes it to the designers, who then scan copyrighted photos from books and photoshop them Andy Warhol style. He seems more concerned with promoting his big gallery show than anything else, and Banksy even hires outside consultants to help with the logistics because the show is so behind schedule. Once the show finally opens, people really seem to eat it up though. I wondered if they would have spent so much money on the artwork if they had seen what went on behind the scenes.
My conclusion: After watching this movie, my opinion of street art hasn’t changed, but I was entertained quite a bit. While I think that Banksy and other artists are very creative and talented, I can’t seem to get my (law abiding) mind past the whole defacing private property and copyright violation aspect. If you like this movie, you might want to check out Beautiful Losers, which follows a group of (slightly annoying) “underground” artists through their rise to fame in the late 90’s. The main difference is that unlike Mr. Brainwash, those artists actually made the artwork themselves.
5 Comments