exit through the gift shop

The mysterious Banksy directs a documentary where the capturing of street art and their artists are discovered at work.  Exit through the Gift shop follows Thiery Guetta’s obsessive video taking hobby around various cities to show the art galleries displayed all over the world. It is believed that this might be a mocumentary, although it does teach a very important point- with the right advertising anyone can be noticed.

The French filmmaker, Thierry Guetta simply wanted to  capture different famous street artists to add to his grand collection of videos. He starts with his cousin who does tile art and from then on he finds other artists. In the beginning he is very helpful and submissive but that persona soon changes. After finding that film editing was not Theirry’s strong point in life he searches for something new. This new idea comes to him after viewing Banksy’s art show success. Guetta begins blowing up a little picture drawn of him with a camera and posting it all over the place like he had once videoed other people doing. As his hobby begins to change so does his personality.

Guetta finds that he can be a street artist just as much as Banksy and the others can be by doing similar pieces. As his new character of, Mr. Brainwash unravels, the idea of him having his own art show comes with. His personality becomes greedy, bossy, and power hungry. He hires people to do his work for him essentially not making his work his own. The beauty of street art was slowly disappearing because of its availability to be bought through the public.

Some questions pondered…

Do you feel that "Mister Brain Wash" is a legitimate artist who is creating meaningful art?

The pieces he creates are art but I would not consider Mister Brain Wash an artist per say. He has simply taken ideas from various artists and try to claim them as his own making him more than a thief than anything else. Also he has hired a team to produce these works of art, therefore not making him the artist.

What does the anonymity of Banksy say to the audience and to the ideas behind his work?

This really did stand out to me throughout the entire film. Not once did Banksy reveal who he was because I think for several reasons. The main reason, being that, he does not care about the fame but only of the art. He was not doing it for recognition and would have been fine with none at all. The art was more important to him more than anything else. Theirry was in it for the fame, hence the plastering of his face everywhere he got the chance.

Does the fact that the work is illegal change the meaning of the work? Does it weaken or empower it?

            The fact that the work is illegal in my opinion makes it more powerful. These artists wanted to make an even larger statement by going against law. It almost makes the art have more meaning as opposed to a piece of art hanging on the wall. The pieces were all over cities so anyone who was simply walking to work, getting a coffee, or enjoying a stroll could enjoy the scenery.

Some Irony…

In the film, a person would see the power of media. Mr. Brainwash advertised all over the place with bill boards and articles but the one that was most influential was a simple review from Banksy. After he had put in a good word there was much more talk.

Another ironic point... Mr. Brainwash's art was not even really on the street so how could one call it street art? Alll of his work came immediately from other people into a show. just saying...