Is Mr. Brainwash and Exit Through The Gift Shop an elaborate hoax by iconic street artist Banksy? It seems like a logical question to ask, especially considering Banksy's reputation for outrageous stunts and the message of the film itself. Hundreds of thousands of people have seen this film and yet nobody really knows for sure. People have been talking about it, wondering about its meaning, pretty much everything Banksy, the king of making grand gestures to make a point, could hope for. Whether real or not, this film works on every level, as a fascinating story of a guy, as an inside look at the secretive world of street art and as a self-ironic statement of art itself.
I believe the beginning half of the film to be at a minimum mostly genuine. The Thierry Guetta who dedicated his life to filming street artists at work seems real, albeit a little eccentric. He says he is fascinated by street artists and their art and who wouldn't be? I could have simply watched them do their stuff for the entire 90 minutes and be totally enthralled. What these guys do is fascinating, if not amazing.
I was actually pretty touched by what Thierry has to say about why he filmed stuff all the time, how he wanted to capture every moment of his life because that would be the only time he could see something in that way again. By capturing the people and events around him, those people and moments would last forever. I want to believe in that kind of earnest sentiment actually exists.
When the reigns on this project are put into Banksy's hands the end result we get is the film we see, Exit Through The Gift Shop. It occurs halfway into the movie where Banksy tells Thierry to do some art for himself, which is where the controversy lies. Is what happens next for real? Or is it Banksy simply providing commentary on the nature of art, media, authenticity, etc etc? This is where I become skeptical, as I assume others do as well. The bumbling yet humble Thierry Guetta is transformed overnight into Mr. Brainwash, a man with no art background or work to speak of who suddenly commands the biggest art event of the year, pre-selling over $100,000 worth of work. The irony of his name is not lost upon anyone, yet people have all fallen for it.
You know how you look at some modern art and say aloud, "How is this art? Anyone can do this." Mr. Brainwash is the embodiment of that sentiment. He blatantly rips off Andy Warhol, throws in some bells and whistles, calls it his own, and charges $24,000 for it, a number he comes up with off the top of his head. The film doesn't even show him actually doing any of the work; he hires graphic designers and artists to put together his ideas. Without the people surrounding him and close relationship with Banksy and Shepard Fairey and a whole slew of factors would Mr. Brainwash even exist?
Mr. Brainwash is painted as a product of the "Banksy effect", or in other words, riding the success of a pop culture phenomenon. Think about all the songs that use Auto-tune now after T-Pain popularized it; it is insanely popular but is it "real" music? In the film, Banksy comments that Mr. Brainwash's art looks just like everyone else's yet has somehow captured this enormous success overnight.
Everyone involved in this film says that it is 100% real. Everyone who has watched seems to think otherwise. I honestly don't know what to believe. I don't really know enough about it to say one way or the other. I do think that if it is a hoax, it is an extremely elaborate one that took years of planning. These things aren't easy to do without being exposed. The film has faced intense scrutiny and theories, yet from what I've read nobody has concrete evidence one way or another. In the end though does it really matter? It is a remarkable film with all these subtexts that leave us talking about it which is what Banksy intended all along.
I, for one, would not pay $24,000 for a giant Tomato soup spray paint can though.
Grade: A-
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