Exit Through the Giftshop

After watching Exit Through the Gift Shop I was able to gain a new perspective about the way in which street art is derived and gains public recognition.  Prior to watching this, I never gave much thought about street art, the artists themselves, or the impact it has on the public.  The first half of the documentary shed light on the true artistic side to street art and the hard work that some artists put into their work as well as their drive to gain recognition.  All of the artists featured in the first half of the documentary are true to their work and it is clear that they strive for originality.  However, the second half of the film was discouraging to this type of work.  Essentially, the way I perceived it was that someone told a videographer, Thierry Guetta, that he should be a street artist, and then Guetta came to the realization that this would be a window of opportunity to make a great deal of money.  Guetta wasted no time in jumping right through this window.  At once, Guetta posted huge images of himself all over Los Angeles and in effect, became an overnight street artist. 

Moreover, I did not see any of Guetta’s, or “Mister Brainwash’s,” work to be original whatsoever.  Not only did his work resemble slightly altered versions of Andy Warhol’s art, but also it was not even slightly altered by the Mast Brainwasher himself.  Mister Brainwash hired graphic designers and an entire staff that he dictated whatever idea came to his mind and then they brought the ideas to life.  This is not art.  Any individual can hire a graphic designer and dictate ideas to them and then sell it for money.  On the other hand, legendary street artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairy convey their own styles to the public as a form of self-expression.  The public is able to distinguish these pieces of art without them even being tagged with the artists name because the creation was consistent with that artist’s unique style.  Banksy’s famous rat figure as well as his one of a kind telephone booth depicted in Exit Through the Gift Shop are just two examples of the original art that Mister Brainwash simply could not grasp. 

The most irritating part about Mister Brainwash’s overnight fame is that he made out like a bandit for selling his “art.”  Not only was his artwork unrightfully priced, but Mister Brainwash went to the extreme of selling his portrait of Madonna for $200,000 dollars.  Some may wonder, “why would people spend such absurd amounts of money on an artist who does not have any credibility?”  Well, this is due largely to the influence of the media on today’s society.  The Los Angeles media learned of Mister Brainwash’s art show and presented the show to be an event that any art enthusiast should be attending.  The reason street art rookies such as Thierry Guetta do not achieve the same success in other countries is mainly because of the unique trust and infatuation that the American society holds with the media.  Today, many Americans turn to the media when they need to find information instead of doing legitimate research.  In turn, Mister Brainwash’s art show had a huge turn out and people were crazy about his work.  I am forced to question if people would be just as crazy about his art if the media had not given it any attention.  The most probable answer is most likely not.  If Mister Brainwash had tried to pull off his art show twenty years ago, it would not have turned out nearly the same way.  Today, society is connected to the media and online media in particular instantly. 

Another factor that stuck out was that Banksy would not reveal himself or even his voice.  This says something about him as an artist.  He is more dedicated to producing original art and expressing his images than gaining recognition as a public figure.  In contrast, Mister Brainwash appears to have intentions that are quite the opposite.  His first piece of street art that he mass-produced all over the city of Los Angeles was an image of himself with a video camera.  Mister Brainwash sought to make a name for himself as quick as possible.  

            Furthermore, Mister Brainwash did not only deceive the public with his work, but deceived all of his “mentor” street artists as well.  Thierry Guetta began his interest in street art as an unexplained need to videotape world famous street artists with no real intention of making a documentary.  Now it seems that Mister Brainwash had a hidden agenda all along.  He learned from the best and even earned the trust of the renowned street artist Banksy.  Banksy, who had evident trust issues, taught Guetta the ropes of street art.  Guetta cultivated everything he was taught by the street artists he observed and incorporated this knowledge into a formula for success and fame.  Throughout the film, I could not help but wonder how Guetta was able to leave behind his family for long periods of time without any intentions of making money to support them.  In the documentary, Guetta states that he deluded the street artists by telling them he was going to turn his footage into a documentary, but in reality had no real intention of doing so.  This does not add up.  How was Guetta able to support his family?  Moreover, what kind of husband and father leaves their family to take footage of street artists without any moneymaking motives?

            Exit Through the Gift Shop showed a close resemblance to something one would find on a reality television show about an aspiring street artist.   The documentary focused mainly on the lives of street artists and provided insight to the motions that they go through daily.  I felt like I was watching something that could be called True Life: I Am a Street Artist.  MTV’s Made draws a more fitting relation.   In this reality television show, people are turned into something that is the exact opposite of themselves in a remarkably short time span.  This is achieved by coaching from an expert in that field; in Thierry Guetta’s case, Banksy plays the role of the “Made coach.”

            I think that the street art movement is a creative form of self-expression, however, I also see it as vandalism and therefore illegitimate.  Our culture’s enthusiasm for street art and willingness to pay excessive amounts of money for this type of art is naive at best.  The fact that the work is illegal seems to have an empowering effect on it and specifically it’s customer base.  The illegality of the art seems to put more value on the artist’s creations and gives the art a “rare” essence. 

            At the core of Exit Through the Gift Shop, I was able to observe different facets of today’s culture.  The most prevalent was that medium as the message is a dominant underlying factor in today’s culture.  Exit Through the Gift Shop exposes the power of the medium as the message in two ways.  The first and most apparent is through the street art itself and the way the public interprets this illegal form of creativity.  In the documentary, the public did not seem disturbed by what some may call vandalism.  They appeared accepting of the street art as a common and acceptable form of self-expression and even recognize the art as a design belonging to particular artists.  The second way in which medium as the message was brought to light was the influence the media had on the public and how it was directly proportional to the success of Mister Brainwash.