Exit Through the Gift Shop is a 2010 street art documentary directed by Banksy which can be easily found on YouTube under the title of “Banksy Documentary.” The opening montage of graffiti artists releasing creativity through aerosol spray cans and destruction of property, played to the tune of Richard Hawley’s “Tonight the Streets are Ours,” excites the viewer with the thrill of expressive vandalism meant to inspire instead of destroy. However, as Banksy appears on screen he reveals he will not be the focus of attention for the duration of the documentary, but instead a Frenchman by the name of Thierry Guetta.
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.
