This past Thursday, December 22 was a sneak peak of “Art Show 2011,” the follow up by infamous street artist Thierry Guetta (AKA “Mr. Brainwash”) to his 2008 art show, “Life Is Beautiful.” Guetta is most known for his controversial role in the 2011 Oscar-nominated docudrama, “Exit Through The Gift Shop,” directed by renowned street artist, Banksy.
Last night, the creme of LA’s street art scene gathered in downtown’s stunningly ornate Los Angeles theater to see the premier of Banksy’s latest buzz-worthy project, a full length film—Exit Through the Gift Shop. The film tracks the creation and meteoric rise of Mr. Brainwash, the street art (artifice) sensation who stunned LA’s art world last year by producing a mammoth show in the old CBS offices in Hollywood. The story line is well known: amateur videographer Thierry Guetta spends a decade videotaping street artists like Shepard Fairy, Invader and Banksy, documenting their own rise within the pop culture zeitgeist. Banksy encourages Thierry to produce his own art show, which becomes a mammoth hit based on the buzz created by his affiliations with the street art elite. The end result is a new “name” artist of questionable talent, and a global art scene questioning its own hype. But how much of the story is fact, and how much is suspect? Banksy’s entire career is based around art as comic gag. Is it beyond him to orchestrate a narrative that confronts the hype befallen himself and his peers in the past few years? Here’s three reasons why Exit Through The Gift Shop might not be what it seems.
Who is Mr. Brainwash? If you were looking for clues at his recent opening in New York City’s Meatpacking District, you were out of luck.
The art/fashion crossover crowd descended on 415 W 13th Street, an enormous multi-level space packed with jumbo canvases and installations, including a life-size horse made from tire treads. In the middle of the upper level was a pink-splattered can of paint so big you could hold a party inside it. People milled around, guzzling Red Bull and champagne, confused & bemused in equal measure. Taking photos and video was encouraged — this is one man who knows how to promote himself.