Exit through the Gift Shop
After watching the documentary “Exit through the Gift Shop” in Media Literacy class, it actually opened my eyes to various types of artistic techniques and to street art in general. Coming from a small town in New Jersey, I was never exposed to graffiti much less street art painted on the sides of buildings and walls. This documentary opened my eyes to the artistic power of street art. Though illegal, the street art painted by the infamous Banksy and Shepherd Fairey forced people to question accepted norms in today’s society. The fact that they are painted where everyone walks, works, and lives challenged people’s perspectives on society and politics; therefore, the artists’ eccentric statements couldn’t be ignored.
Both Shepherd Fairey and Banksy had their own very unique style of street art. As I have researched each artist’s work more on my own I found common themes among each other works. For example, Shepherd Fairey uses the color red throughout his designs. The color red appears in almost every design and is the primary color of his art work. As well as cartooning images, Shepherd Fairey creates many photograph designs that are “live traced” on illustrator or on another program similar. His most well known work was the Obama live trace and underneath usually appears the world “HOPE”. Though one of the most innovative (unintentional) campaign techniques, Shepherd Fairey is currently being sued for it’s vast production.
Bansky has a far different style than Shepherd Fairey though both encourage people to rethink their accepted norms and politics. By Banksy’s work, you can see he has a far more radical approach to art than Shepherd Fairey. His art portrays the corruption of England society. There are paintings of maids sweeping dirt under curtain, solders painting over peace signs, cracks in walls that show paradise, and a homeless man asking for “change” in both meanings of the word. He also has done street art type sculptures including the destruction of a phone booth.
The greatest aspect about Banksy is the fact that he keeps his identity anonymous. This attests to the fact that he does not require fame and fortune. The fact that he does not reveal his identity verifies his love of art and culture. Consumerism does not affect him and it shows his dedication to his cause of challenging people’s minds through art. I believe that by not selling his art, Banksy is not “selling out”. Acclaim is not necessary for him and that is what makes him so appeal, in my eyes at least.
Throughout the documentary we are introduced and getting to know Thierry Guetta, the filmmaker turned street artist. When we are first introduced to this real life character, he appears to be enamored with the concept and mystery of street art and street artists themselves. He begins to follow and document street artists such as Shepherd Fairey and eventually pines for the infamous Banksy. He constantly speaks about filmmaking which is his choice of art though he also ads that he never compiles his footage to make anything worthwhile or anything in general. Guetta also more or less leaves his family for months at time on a wild goose chase for Banksy as he films street artists, footage of which he never intended to become a documentary.
Once Guetta found Banksy as type of revolution began inside of him as we saw through the film. He becomes even more obsessed with Banksy as he shadows him throughout many projects and designs. Banksy, in passing, recommends to Guetta to, perhaps, he should try dabbling in art as well. This small comment turned into a phenomenon. Guetta then began to make large scale photoshop-like street art, hired artists to sculpt for him, bought a space to pose as his gallery, and began to call himself “Mister Brainwash”.
Mister Brainwash, in my opinion, is the definition of a “poser”. I apologize for my lack of scholarly language. He sold out in every way possible. Guetta publicized via huge billboards, exaggerated both Banksy and Shepherd Fairey’s accolades which they posted on their websites, spoke to various magazines and news programs, and mass produced his so-called “art”. It was obvious to those watching the documentary that Mister Brainwash was more concerned with his image (and himself) considerably more so than any of his art (most of which was graphic design and created by others). This endeavor unfortunately cheapened the work of Shepherd Fairey and Banksy both of who were very unique and innovative. Now Mister Brainwash can be compared to such artistic geniuses. Frankly, they are being compared to a copycat Andy Warhol.
As you can see there is so many different kind of street art, some that are unique, some that are copies – but either way they are both forms of expression and that in turn makes them art. From a realistic perspective, all forms of street art are illegal. Though I find street art fascinating and I think that the creative heir it brings to our lives is breathtaking and challenging, I cannot refute the fact that it is illegal. In the cases of Shepherd Fairey and Banksy, the law is simply not strictly enforced and until it is, I say keep on creating.
