Exit Through the Gift Shop

by Andy Motz

“Art is about the human crazy,” says author John Shore. I couldn’t agree more…and it’d be difficult to find a better example of this than Banksy’s excellent documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, a fascinating, strange, and puzzling film that is among the best films that 2010 has to offer. What starts off as an examination of street art and the madness behind it slowly develops into a meditation on the nature of modern-day art.

The documentary tells the story of one unique individual: Thierry Guetta, a French man who lived a somewhat normal life in Los Angeles and ran a clothing store. Geutta had one quirk: he filmed everything and anything from family dinners to baths. On one fateful family visit in France he discovers his cousin is the street artist Invader. Automatically fascinated by Invader, Geutta is hooked by the thrill that accompanies street art.

Rapidly becoming obsessed Guetta begins following other street artists on their nightly rounds. He lies to the artists informing them he is making a film about street art despite the fact he hasn’t even started putting footage together (a room in his house is stacked with boxes full of tapes – a daunting task indeed). The street artists themselves along with Guetta’s quirkiness amount to an entertaining first half. We get a unique look at how these street artists work their magic, which includes spending hours at Kinko’s, venturing out at all times during the day and night, and avoiding the police.

Yet through all of this Guetta is unsatisfied, for there is one artist he has yet to film: the famous/infamous Banksy. The opportunity soon arises and as their friendship grows Banksy encourages Geutta to create his own art show. Guetta is more than enthusiastic and before we realize it things are spiraling out of control.

Exit Through the Gift Shop at this point becomes something profound as it examines some of the best in street-style art (Banksy) while accidentally (?) revealing some the worst in the form of Thierry Guetta. As Banksy says “Warhol repeated iconic images until they became meaningless, but there was still something iconic about them. Thierry really makes them meaningless.” A lot of the actual art isn’t even done by Guetta himself. He tells hired artists what he has in mind and they make it for him. After spray painting an eye patch on a print of a famous painting Guetta discuses how he will sell this painting for thousands of dollars. The sad part is that it’s true. His show attracts thousands of people; though the show feels scatter-brained and cheap people buy and love the art. This says something about society…but what? Even Banksy himself isn’t sure.

What’s more thought provoking is the evolutionary process of street art as it progresses from art for arts sake to art for profit. This is shown not only through Banksy and Guetta’s stories, but other artists like Shepard Fairey. Fairey started off traveling around the world pasting his signature art without any profit. Then in 2008 he created the Obama HOPE art we have all come to know and now his works can be found in museums all over the country, begging the question if there is such thing as art for art’s sake anymore.

The nature of art and the artist is put to the test in Exit Through the Gift Shop because of Thierry Guetta (Mr. Brainwash). During the course of this ever-compelling film we view culture shifts, crazy artists, brilliant artists, and how all humans respond differently to art itself.

The question remains whether this is a real documentary or if Banksy is playing a joke on us. I hope we’ll never know because this too adds to the magic of it.

Below is both some of Banksy and Mr. Brainwashes art: