The only thing we know about the anonymous Banksy is that he is an English born artist from Bristol, as the movie solidifies. He is famous throughout the world for his art which usually has political and social themes. He announced that he would be staying in New York for October and would create one work a day. Every morning, he would post a teaser photo to Instagram and a photo of the work on his website with no other information. From there, the hunt was on.

Clips throughout the documentary show all types of people that went searching for Banksy’s art: art critics, gallery owners, plumbers, and many other artists. But not everyone was a Banksy fan, and many covered or destroyed his works. While some people were building owners that refused to allow graffiti on their walls, other “artists” decided to take artistic freedom and add their own ideas to his art. For example, in the beginning clips of the documentary, men are seeing trying to take down inflated letters from the roof of a building while cops try to confiscate the words. This controversy created a dilemma for Banksy’s fans. Not only did they have to go out and find his work, they needed to make it before the work was “spot jocked”, like the Helium Balloon. Multiple videos show the people on the hunt for a Banksy piece and their journey to find it. One couple in particular listened to audio from his website and went where they believed a truck with a garden inside it was parked. In the video, you can hear the excitement in their voices as they realize they have found a Banksy original and that he or someone who works for him was probably watching. Another man explains that while the truck is just a diorama that he could see in a museum, the audio tape explains that the truck was a delivery of calm to the chaos of NYC. Although, he also says it actually just delivered chaos itself. A group was created called the “Wet Wipe Gang”, who tried to restore Banksy’s work after it had been defaced. This shows the incredible influence of Banksy’s art on the public, in good ways and in bad ways.

It is only poetic that Banksy chose New York for this project since it is where graffiti was born. Traditional graffiti was the original street art and is commonly seen as bad and damaging. In the 70’s street art became popular as a form of expression as people began to feel empowered. It created a huge community of street artists who painted in order to fight back.

Each of Banksy’s pieces is rooted in political or social undertones. The best example is the video of Dumbo being shot from the sky by militants which originally was a real video of a helicopter being shot down. Another political piece is the War Horse mural on the side of a car and the wall positioned behind it. In 2007, U.S. soldiers accidentally shot and killed Iraqi civilians and journalists. The video released of this incident was the inspiration for this Banksy piece. Another piece, a beaver by a broken street sign, shed light on society. First, the piece was done on a wall in Queens, a place where many New Yorkers probably don’t go. Shortly after being found, a small group of men cover the painting with cardboard and charge people to take photos of it. And people do. It’s not the painting, but the interaction of people with the painting that is the real display. Anyone could see it on Banksy’s website, yet they pay money to see it in person because it’s being covered by men who don’t even own it. The best piece is when Banksy hired an old man to sell spray painted pieces at a stand. Not very many people stopped and bought one because they didn’t think they were original Banksy artworks. Unbeknownst to them, every single piece was an original and signed. All his pieces are public displays of art, but the importance of his work isn’t just the design itself, but the environment around the art as well. All of New York became his canvas and the people were his inspiration. Even this documentary works as a living depiction of his art. Banksy doesn’t paint for people to see, he paints for people to feel.

Banksy Does New York is pretty interesting for the most part. I think it was a subject for a documentary. It makes you want to keep watching to see what his next artwork is going to be. When Banksy revealed each work, he would have some audio that went along with it to give you some insight into what it meant. It was interesting to know what he was thinking when he was making his art. Although they did skip over a couple days, so you did not see what he did throughout the whole month of October. I think one thing that makes you keep watching also is to see if you find out what Banksy looks like. People not knowing what he looks like makes him someone you want to know more about him. But like I said in the paragraph before,  I feel the documentary is unorganized. It is more just videos taken by other people put together rather than an actual documentary. An upside to it being videos though, it gives you a better idea of how people reacted and how people felt about him and his art. It makes it more real compared to professional making this documentary and maybe twisting some things or making it what it was not.

If you want to learn about Banksy, however, this would not be the movie for you. This is more for enjoyment than it is learning. You do not really get information on Banksy except where he is from and what he does. It focuses on just his time in New York and the art he did while he was there. Being able to really learn about him would be difficult anyways because most people don’t even know what he looks like. All in all, the documentary was a good movie to see if you want to experience being in New York during his time there and seethe art he did.

Thierry Guetta – better known by his pseudonym Mister Brainwash (MBW) –  began filming various street artists who were under the impression he was a filmmaker collecting footage for a street art documentary.  In reality, Guetta felt the compulsive need to record everything and had no intentions on releasing a film of any sort; intentions he kept hidden from his camera subjects.  To some artists having someone doubling as a lookout and documentarian was viewed as an asset, given the brief half-lives of street art.  This type of art tends to get weathered, censored, or ironically covered by other artists after brief periods.  During the time of Guetta’s filming, street art such as Banksy’s came under fire when the artists themselves shifted towards the more structured use of gallery shows and selling works to contemporary art collectors. 

Upon receiving inevitable accusations of selling out, Banksy urged Guetta to release the documentary which had presumably been in production to assure fans that nobody was selling out and that artists who were moving on to the gallery scene were never in it for money to begin with. Guetta’s documentary once released however, revealed itself to be that of kinked Slinky – providing nothing in values of usefulness or entertainment. Banksy comments later: “It was at that point I realized that maybe Thierry wasn’t actually a filmmaker. Maybe he was just someone with mental problems who happened to have a camera.” From Banksy’s additional comments he persuades Thierry to give him any remaining footage so that Banksy might make a documentary of his own which would highlight the street art community in a more sophisticated manner, but in the meantime perhaps Guetta could develop some art of his own and host a gallery show.  After this point in the documentary more about Guetta’s character is revealed.  Having spent years filming working with artists and their styles, Guetta formulates the persona of MBW using styles appropriated from those he spent so long observing.

Street art has a couple legal implications, but one stands above the others: the art usually entails vandalism and destruction of property, therefore making it an illegal act.  This implication usually leads some to view the “artists,” as either vandals with talent or as heroes standing up to “The Establishment,” in order to spread their message by any means necessary.  For example, Shepard Fairey – later establishing the Obey Propaganda clothing line – held the belief people needed to reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment. Banksy frequently used his medium to highlight issues with various topics including human rights such as those involving terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay.

In stark contrast Thierry Guetta reveals no true motivations for joining the art world other than he felt Banksy had instructed him to do so.  While Guetta had in fact contributed in illustrating public walls by plastering his imagery onto them, the works were essentially Banksy stencils without the social commentary.  The argument can be made for social commentary being a secondary characteristic for any visual medium in defense of Guetta’s stylistic decisions, except the art isn’t really even his. 

After discussing with Banksy about working on his art, Guetta remortgaged his preexisting clothing business to supply the new endeavor of pumping out “art” at an industrial rate by hiring a full-time team of designers and screen printing machines.  During an interview MBW even states, “I’m just going to come with the idea and say, ‘This is what I want. I want this,like that.”  To the staff’s credit they are exceptionally capable individuals.  From a glance one can see MBW’s artworks are practically lifted directly from Andy Warhol, Banksy, Shepard Fairey.  The resulting gallery exhibition looks as if Hot Topic employed Etsy shop owners to develop visual representation of what it’s like to read Ready Player One.

The documentary is an excellent expose on the overnight phenomenon that is Mister Brainwash while also serving to separate and dignify artists who aren’t in the business to solely turn a profit.  Artists such as Banksy and Fairey who supported Guetta initially until Guetta’s sweet naivety to the street art community soured into mass commercialism.  It becomes apparent Thierry Guetta stood on the backs of others in order to call himself tall exploiting the good nature of those around him and lowering the average quality of contemporary art market in tandem. 

In October of 2013, for one month only, this famous artist held a residency in the city of New York and announced to everyone that he would be presenting a new work of art for 31 days only in various locations, sort of like a scavenger hunt for art lovers. It forced people to travel to parts of the city they may have never seen before. Fans of Banksy’s work went crazy looking for these hidden pieces.

At first, it started out as a fun game for people, until people started taking advantage of it and began stealing the works of art and even defacing some of them by putting their own name next to it, taking the credit. If there was a painting on a door, people would cut down the door and sell it. One day, Banksy created a cement sphinx and placed it in a junkyard, basically. Knowing that this sphinx could be worth lots of money, a group of men took it home with them and sold it to a famous art gallery. People even started charging other people to take a picture of the new Banksy piece that was put out. The scavenger hunt that first started out as a fun way to travel around the city, turned into a chaotic month for New York.

The most interesting aspect of this documentary is that Banksy never came out of the shadows to get the money for his pieces. He let people steal them and never said a word. Every day, he continued to place a new work of art somewhere, probably knowing that it would be taken. Perhaps he just did this out of the goodness of his heart, or maybe just to get more word out about his art. Either way, it is shocking how hidden he stayed knowing all of this was happening. Since nobody knows what Banksy actually looks like, he could have easily been anyone on the streets also looking at the new work of art. He could have been around people the whole time and no one would know it. However, at the same time, he is very visible because his work is so famous.

The pieces that Banksy set around the city weren’t always graffiti. Some were interactive, and some were very random, not making much sense. In my mind, Banksy wanted peace, not chaos for this experience. He wanted people to have fun and explore New York. Before the new work of art was placed each day, Banksy would put out an audio tape online, giving a clue to where the piece was and sometimes even a small backstory to his work. I think if people had not taken advantage of this scavenger hunt, it would’ve turned out to be a great experience for all Banksy fans and even people just walking past the art.

Banksy was already a very well-known artist before doing this New York scavenger hunt. He wanted to give fans an opportunity to see his new works of art and have some fun with it. From what we learn about him in the movie, he is a unique artist, who just wanted peace. He stays in the shadows possibly because he doesn’t want to be mobbed by crazy fans. I think he creates more hype by being more mysterious because it gets people more curious as to who this man actually is. He did this out his love for art. Also, since graffiti is illegal in New York, if he was ever to get caught, he would probably go to jail for a very long time. Graffiti is considered vandalism. Since he is such a well-known artist, he couldn’t risk being seen and going to jail. However, BECAUSE he is such a well-known artist, he was getting more attention for his art. His work was on the news a lot and cops were determined to find him. Still to this day, Banksy stays hidden. Even if you are not someone who is interested in art, Banksy Does New York is an exciting documentary, teaching us about a unique, contemporary artist and street art in New York.

This documentary also gave me new insight to who Banksy really was. He likes to stay in the shadows and clearly doesn’t want to be the center of attention. Or maybe he just stayed in the shadows from his fear of being caught by police. In my eyes, Banksy’s intentions were positive. He never charged anyone to look at his paintings and never wanted money for them, during the documentary at least. He is a fun new artist and I will continue to follow his work.

In the movie, Guetta is just an owner of a small clothing shop in Los Angeles but the shop does not fulfill his passion which is filming. On a trip to France Guetta finds out his cousin is a well-known street artist and Guetta wants to accompany him around so he can film the artists and make a documentary. While they are traveling the movie does a great job at showing all the different artworks that the artist created and this begins to lay the foundation for the film because this gives the audience a sense of how much art really means to not only Guetta but also so many other individuals out there. One of the artworks that is shown in the movie is when Banksy cuts an English phone booth in half and puts it back together in a way that it looks broken and destroyed in order to show the urbanization of modernized England. The movie does a great job at showing off the different styles that street art can take. For example from the film is Guetta’s cousin, known as Invader, is famous for recreating the different characters of space invader and hanging up his artworks all over France while his friend Shepard Fairey was known for creating some political art works in the United States. From this example it just shows all the different forms art can come in as one artist is just creating characters from an old game while another is creating political artworks. The film then continues to show all the different artists that Guetta meets, in particular an artist named Banksy who is a prominent artist in the street art community. They eventually become friends, and Banksy allows Guetta to document his work because he says that street art does not last long so documenting it would help it become popular. In the end Banksy is the one who decides to film Guetta because Guetta does an awful job at putting the film together so he takes it upon himself to create the film. Guetta later becomes a street artist at the urgency of Banksy who films Guetta’s first exhibition which winds up being a huge success.

At this point in the movie Banksy is an established street artist who had a showing in Los Angeles which was a huge success. This led Banksy to convince Guetta to create his own art show. Guetta looked up to Banksy so he took his advice creating his own art show. In order to have a successful showing Guetta needed to find a way to market his viewing sp he decided to sell his house in order to help fund the advertising of his show. Guetta decided to rent billboards all over LA in order to market to the public about his exhibition. Guetta eventually gets caught up in all of the marketing which causes his show to be unfinished when he opens it to the public. Even though the show is not well prepared it ends up being a raging success in which Guetta is able to make millions of dollars by selling multiple paintings which are now in museums all over the world. From Guetta’s exhibition you can tell how much street art has become popular and polarizing in the modern age. At first in the film the audience is given the impression that street art is just graffiti but throughout the film they show that graffiti is a type of art even if it is just spray paint on a wall. Art is a way of someone expressing their emotions, or imagination, by creating a visual artwork and this movie does a great job of showing how art can be anything ranging from drawing space invader characters, to graffiti, to hanging up self-photocopies, painting an elephant art can take many different forms.

The documentary begins by showing a group of thieves attempting to steal balloons that were part of one of the pieces that he had created during his time in New York. It then proceeds to show all of the madness that had occurred because of his variously placed art works. Not only are Banksy’s pieces rare and unique, but they are worth money… a lot of money. That is perhaps why it was such a big deal when he came to New York. After people had realized that his art was worth money, the frenzy began. Not only were people attempting to steal the art, some were even vandalizing and tagging the art as their own out of jealousy.

The movie continues by explaining how Banksy would preview his daily piece. On his website he would post a photo of what he created, and that’s all. He would not include a location or any hint of one. Although,sometimes he did post an audio clip to go with the artwork. The film did a great job at showing the confusion mixed with the excitement of how the New Yorkers reacted during this month long duration. There were scenes of crowds in awe of a masterpiece, there were scenes where people were trying to charge money for pictures with one of his artworks, and there were even scenes that showed people laughing at the absurdity of a piece. It really puts into perspective the craziness that was stirring up because of an English artist known as Banksy.

Throughout the film we get commentary from fellow artists,photographers, critics, collectors, and people known as “Banksy Hunters”, who were the people that would attempt to track down his art every day. They give their opinions on why it was so exhilarating to witness Banksy’s take on New York and really gave a feel of how invigorating the event was. It makes the person viewing the film feel as though they almost want to go back in time and live through this moment. As a fan of Banksy myself, I know that it would have been such an honor to have witnessed one of these strange and unusual pieces in person. Because of the twists and turns you never knew what would happen. As soon as the artwork of the day was found, it was only a matter of time before someone covered it, vandalized it, or stole it. Because of the mystery of what would happen to the art, it was a countdown of time to find the art and admire it.

The film ends with the same scene it opened with, showing the men getting arrested for attempting to steal the balloons. After getting through the movie the viewer finally realizes not only why the men were stealing it, but also why people wanted to get them arrested for it. The filmmakers decided to put the film in this order to really get the viewer to understand and piece it all together. I think this film is fantastic. Not only does it give information about Banksy and his art, but it also shows a historically accurate depiction of what occurred, because it provides actual footage of each event.

Before I viewed this particular movie I knew the name Banksy, and I knew he was an artist, but I did not know about the chaos that he had caused,and still causes, throughout his career. Through the messages of his subliminal art, Banksy continues to provoke the thinking of others and keeps people on their toes. I believe that this film has captured a perfect depiction of art in general. It really captures the fact that art is subjective. Some people really valued the art that was shown in the film, and some totally disregarded its meaning entirely. The reaction of the public towards Banksy’s street art displays the irony of it all. Even though some believe art to be powerful and hold a message, there are others who take advantage of other’s talents and sell them for an absurd price. Which to me, seems as though to defeat the sole purpose of art. Although I believe art should be able to be bought and enjoyed by individuals, it should also be able to be enjoyed by the public. Especially in this case, where Banksy purposely made his pieces to be viewed by the public.  

Personally, I respect Banksy and what he has created. Not only in his art, but also through his stunts. He manages to get his own point across but also, he leaves it to the public to absorb whatever they want from his art. Whether that means being in awe of what he has created or being upset with the fact that he “vandalized” a building. Whatever your personal views on Banksy are, you cannot deny the fact that he is great at gaining the public’s attention and stimulating the minds of others. With the help of this film,people can take a broader look at the effect that art has on the public eye and how the industry is corrupted by those who only seek to make a profit from the works of others.           

As time progresses, Basquiat meets a man by the name of Rene who essentially fires the flame of his career in art. Basquiat gets booked into his first art show and this is a huge success for him. And after that, big names end up buying his art and his name now becomes a household name in the art industry. This leads him to doing dozens and dozens of shows throughout the country, and even shows in Europe. Basquiat’s paintings were like no other, and this unique factor is what caught the attention of many collectors and other famous artists. Basquiat goes from selling two small paintings to Andy Warhol for about $10 each to becoming a very good friend of Warhol’s and even making paintings with him. It seems as if Basquiat replaces his good friend Benny with Warhol. From the beginning, Basquiat did almost everything with Benny, but as his career was set off and he became relevant enough to associate himself with an artist as great as Andy Warhol, he ended up replacing Benny with Warhol. He also does this with Rene.Rene essentially discovered Basquiat and without Rene, who knows if Basquiat would have even gotten any exposure for his art, but Basquiat ends up turning his back on Rene and goes with the more known and successful Bruno.  As for the historically accuracy of the film,the majority of the movie is historically accurate. The most dramatized portions of the film deal with his relationship with his girlfriend Gina. The film starts with Basquiat going to a diner and Gina happens to be his waitress.They end up becoming involved with each other and she is associated with him until the end of the film. As the film progresses, it seems that his involvement with drug use seems to progress as well . The more known he becomes, the more money he makes and the more money he makes, the more drugs he is able to buy. This factor does essentially play a huge part in his career. It actually becomes the demise of his career. He passes away due to a heroin overdose at the age of 27. One aspect that I absolutely did not like about this movie was the ending. The overall body of the movie was fantastic, but the ending was absolutely dry and seemed rushed. Instead of creating a series of events that could’ve potentially had the movies audience on the edge of their seats, the movie creators end the movie with a black screen and few sentences are played on that black screen telling the audience that Basquiat dies at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose and then the credits appear. I believe the director chooses this method because he wanted to put more emphasis on the life of Basquiat, rather than his demise. Maybe the simplicity of the ending is to take away from the harsh reality of how the artist’s life ended. Other than that, the movie really did grab my attention and kept me entertained as well. I believe his life was genuinely and efficiently portrayed throughout the entirety of the film. I also believe that the overall film was very well executed other than the ending. Basquiat was a very successful artist with an amazing, yet depressing story, and the creators did a very well job telling his story.

Banksy is a graffiti artist or otherwise known as a public street artist from England. Where some think of him as a political activist, others see him as a vandal or a menace to society. Banksy’s main priority or point in his works is one of satire and taking situations or feelings that seem large, serious, or even difficult to comprehend and wraps them all up into simple visual expressions. Banksy is well known for his style as well. He uses stencils and spray paint in a technique referred to as “cheating.” Banksy is also known for his mystery surrounding his artwork, probably because his work just pops up without anyone seeing him in the act. No one knows the true identity of Banksy, which was possibly what caused such hype and controversy over his takeover/ scavenger hunt frenzy during his month in  New York.

The movie does a great job of showing just how much the public influenced the work Banksy was doing around the city. The public were not just an influence for the street art, but they were directly a part of the month long art exhibit Banksy was putting on in the city. The movie follows the work that Banksy revealed each day on a timeline-like sequence. At the same time, the movie documents some followers or art work hunters that took part in the month long scavenger hunt. Everyone wanted their chance to gaze upon Banksy’s art before it was either defaced, stolen, or taken down within hours or even minutes of being discovered.

I personally liked and enjoyed the way they followed each piece of art in chronological order. Following the event day to day felt like you are somehow drawn in and taking part in it even though it was years ago. It gives the audience a way of following multiple sides of the story at the same time seamlessly. Art collectors, curators, photographers, artists, and admirers are all left to tell their experience that month and how they reacted to each piece as it was found. You also get to develop your own feelings and opinions of each work of art and what Banksy is doing in New York as the movie goes on.

I believe the movie also helps the audience gather a decent comprehension of each work of art in the sense that they describe what each work represents, or at least give some background information so the viewer can form an opinion. Some pieces such as the floating, patched up balloon that he painted in Brooklyn have a simpler representation. It represents the hardship of moving on from a broken heart but being able to continue on. This piece may be easier for the public to pick up on. Other pieces had a much deeper meaning and significance that the audience may not recognize. The movie does a great job of patching up that gap. For example, the movie incorporates footage of actual events that had transpired, such as the shooting of journalists and civilians overseas, to help convey the significance of the Banksy painting in Lower East Side of “crazed” horses and scared people painted on a car. Banksy used the leaked video as inspiration for his art to show what had transpired and his stance on the war.

On the other hand, I did not like the constant flashing of tweets and message bubbles across the screen throughout the movie. Although the tweets did pertain to the subject matter and were relevant to what was going on at the time, I felt that they made the movie feel almost childish at times. I caught myself feeling as though I was watching a pre-teen Netflix original at multiple points throughout the movie.

It is also important that the movie extensively covered the part of the story about those people who defaced or stole Banksy’s work. Those who did not appreciate what Banksy was trying to accomplish were quick to take it down or paint over the works. The movie sheds light on these parts and also captures the viewpoint of those people who did appreciate what was being done and worked to preserve the art throughout the city. You cannot help but appreciate all the graffiti and street art you see while watching this movie. How the art work is shot and displayed really promotes the beauty of it all even at its most rudimentary levels.

My biggest critique after watching this movie is that there would have been less focus on the financial gain that has stemmed from Banksy’s art work. Although it is relevant, I don’t feel the monetary value of his work really pertains to Banksy and why he does what he does what he does. If he wanted recognition and financial gain, he wouldn’t remain anonymous. The movie elements the art gallery collector, Stephan Keszler and group of men who stole Banksy’s Sphinx piece to sell really take away from the beauty of his work and the social significance of everything his work stands for. The men who stole the art works shouldn’t have the satisfaction of being in a movie that aims to show why this type of art is so important. At the same time, directors may have included this portion of the movie to simultaneously convey just how shallow these collectors and sellers really are. Taking advantage of Banksy’s work should be condemned rather than glorified or encouraged.

All in all this movie does a wonderful job of showing the good in street artists and how Banksy is so influential and crucial to keeping this type of art alive. Although his artwork around NYC was brief, he, his audience, and social media helped promote and preserve his work for the rest of time.

The film itself mostly takes place through the lens of Thierry’s video camera, the subject matter being everything around him. Thierry is struck, however, by his cousin, (known only as “Space Invader”, or sometimes simply just “Invader”), and his unique form of self-expression: mosaic graffiti. Invader took his name from the popular arcade game, and spends his time plastering whatever is within arm’s reach with mosaic replicas of the iconic aliens. Thierry is immediately enthralled and begins to not only document Invader’s work, but begins to seek out every graffiti artist he could record. Thierry had unwittingly stumbled onto one of the most popular art forms of the twenty-first century, and he was the only one with a real scoop. Through his lens we watch not only Invader and his mosaics, but also famed Los Angeles street artist Shepard Fairey, responsible for the now-commercialized line drawing of Andres the Giant, over a block text “OBEY”.

            The introduction of Fairey is an interesting addition to Thierry’s footage, as Fairey teaches him the ins and outs of plastering, eventually jokingly referring to him as an accomplice. As one watches this film unfold, you are struck by how incredibly stylized and “acted” Thierry Guetta is, forcing you to wonder whether you are watching a documentary, or a mockumentary more akin to Borat. The footage shown throughout, however, immerses the viewer in Thierry’s world, revealing just how footage he has been shooting. The footage is clearly amateur quality, but the subjects are so real and human. The amount of legwork it would take to recreate some of these clips would be a herculean task, leaving you no option but to believe Thierry’s story. The real problem, however, isn’t believing Thierry, its understanding him.

Thierry reveals that he had no plans on compiling his footage. Like sticking your head in between two mirrors and seeing your own face stretch off into infinity, Thierry takes footage of his collection of hundreds upon hundreds of cassette tapes, all unused, and he completes the loop by adding that footage into his collection. The film is a bit confusing in that aspect, with both Banksy and Thierry taking credits for finally forcing a direction upon his film collection.

However,the film doesn’t particularly stress that what is shown is the truth. It doesn’t know if it wants to be a documentary or an art house flick. It is fast-moving, with an almost “culture shock” effect, throwing the viewer into the world of graffiti as if we had all been there from the beginning, and understand the motives and desires of the common graffiti artist. What it does drive home, however, is that these are artists. A graffiti artist is more than a vandal, and should be considered as much an artist as any painter or sculptor. Imagine, even, if a sculptor had to quietly chip away at his marble block, for fear of being fined for a petty crime. These urban Krylon combatants bring the art to you, and they do not paint portrait, landscape ,or still life. From Invader’s mosaics, to David Fairey’s OBEY, graffiti artists have utilized whichever piece of pop culture from whichever time they please, as it suits them. The pop culture aspect is almost as much a medium as their spray paint and their concrete canvas. The art is temporary, allowing it be eternally contemporary.

The message of the film is loud, but not so clear. It conveys the meaning and the intent of some of today’s contemporary urban artists, but does not impart any emotion, or specificity to their actions. The film is marketed as a documentary on Banksy, but could just as easily be focused on Theirry, and his eventual emergence as an artist himself. However, like Banksy’s street art, perhaps the point of the film isn’t what you’re staring at, but what you associate with the image. The artists and people depicted within the film are as real as you and I, but characters like Thierry, and Bansky himself, appear to be in on some joke that the viewer is never supposed to get.

I rate this film three and half stars out of 5. It meanders in an odd direction, not giving any inkling as to what will develop next. Some call that intrigue, I call it poor storyboarding. What it lacks in focus, however, it makes up for in brevity. The film moves quickly, leaving you breathless by the time it is finished.It is short, and to the point. The point, however, is up to you to interpret.Whether you view this as a documentary on Banksy, or on Thierry, you will walkaway from this film having been given a fresh view on the streets and buildings around you. Despite it’s odd flow, and interesting direction, the film is certainly worth a watch, and gives insight to graffiti culture while simultaneously showing the views that graffiti culture, and “culture”, are indistinguishable.