Mr Brainwash

[brouhaha]

Just watched Exit through a gift shop', this week, a BanKsy directed film, although it's actually based on a French LA resident, Thierry Guetta, who eventually goes by the name of Mr Brainwash, however BAnksy plays an important role along with other street artists in the development and the influencing the artistic style of Mr B.

 

It was interesting to see the story of the pioneers of celebrity street art & how these street artists went about the production of their art- photocopying huge transfers then prowling around in the middle of the night, avoiding security guards and risking life and limb for a bit of indulgent self expression; how they suffered for their art! These early escapades were captured by the Guetta on his perenially attached camcorder. It also brilliantly showed how readily we jump on bandwagons, especially the art collectors who seem to totally miss the point of buying art that holds a personal appeal (although they may have). These buyers with more money than sense (hate that cliche) with their coffee table born opinions of art, are more interested with the celebrity of the artist and the kudos with owning a piece, rather than the art itself, who is 'in' at the moment and who is worth buying. We saw this unfold in the 90's with Superstar DJ's, they became the attraction rather than the music they were playing. The end scenes of the film, which focus on a huge art exhibition directed by MR B, fantastically prove the point that it is the artists celebrity that appeals, rather than his art, or more relevantly in this case, the concept of the artists work- as Mr B does very little in the production of the 'artworks'. It's a bit like the emperors new clothes, if you saw some graffiti on a wall would you still think it's vandalism, if someone told you BAnksy painted it? Art is subjective of course, but it was funny listening to Banksy when he realised he had created a monster, in Mr B, and had to catch himself when observing that Mr B had broken the rules as he hadn't served an artistic apprenticeship to develop his own style, but merely walked into his fame, by engineering it Cowell style. This docu-film gives a fantastic, no truer example of Wilde's '...genius steals' quote. It just shows that more often than not in popular culture, and this isn't a new observation, fame or the association to fame wins rather than hard earned talent. These ideas or observations have been aired many times before, but it was good to see it displayed so brutally in this film.

 

Anyone else seen it? Well worth a watch if you haven't.

Edited October 23, 2010 by merseyparadise

[billybunter]

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[brouhaha]

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[billybunter]

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[guernseygareth]

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