“Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a documentary film created by the famous street artist Banksy. It was originally filmed by Thierry Guetta in an attempt to create a documentary on prominent street artists. He spent years following various artists as they applied their art to buildings around the world. Eventually Banksy told Thierry that he had a vast amount of recorded material and that he should begin to assemble the documentary. The original cut of the film was so unbelievably bad that Banksy decided to use the material recorded by Thierry to create a new film documenting Thierry’s life. While Banksy was redoing the film, he sent Thierry to Los Angeles to create his own street art. He did this on a much larger scale than expected, investing all of his money into a large art show, for which he hired a team of artists to quickly produce a great volume of art. The show was generally well received and Thierry made a large profit from his newly created art. This show, and Thierry’s rapid rise to fame as the artist “Mr.Brainwash”, was used to conclude Banksy’s film that was salvaged from Thierry’s initial attempt, becoming “Exit Through the Gift Shop”. Shepard Fairey and Banksy criticized Thierry’s art, saying that it lacked artistic value.
Many believe that this film was a staged documentary designed by Banksy and Fairey to criticize elements of the artistic community. They claim that Thierry Guetta is a fictional character created to exemplify what his creators saw as wrong with changes occurring in street art so they could direct their complaints at him. This seems plausible due to the eccentric nature of Thierry and the amount of money that would be required to produce an art show of that magnitude. Even though the film did address the issue of money, saying that it was causing him financial difficulty, it seems unlikely that he could have afforded it anyway. His job of running a clothing store would probably not cover all of his expenses, even disregarding the expenses of his trips around the world following various street artists. His family would also be expected to be a little bit more upset about how he essentially neglected them for years to pursue his goal of recording street artists.
Regardless of the truthfulness of the story, its message is still clear. Banksy wanted to show how street art is being commercialized. It was beginning to transform from a non-profit art form created in the street to express social commentary into galleries of meaningless art to be auctioned to the highest bidder. Thierry drew all of his ideas from the works of other artists and hired teams of other artists to assemble his new products. His work was more about profit and self-promotion than the works of the other street artists, as displayed by his first attempt at art: a poster of himself. Thierry embraced the attention of the media, whereas Banksy still remains anonymous. Another message of the film was the apparent lack of taste of many art collectors. They were willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for the mass produced products of “Mr.Brainwash” simply because of the “buzz” surrounding his art show, and the endorsements of his work from Banksy and Fairey, rather than artistic merit.
The anonymity of Banksy reflects the motives behind his work. Unlike Thierry, he makes sure to stay out of the public eye. His art is more about commenting on various aspects of society, or at least invoking some type of emotion. Much of his work, such as the inflatable prisoners that he placed in Disney World, is part of some sort of political protest. This is in sharp contrast to “Mr.Brainwash”, who is quoted as saying “I’m not too big or too clever. I’m pretty simple. I’m not like a person, an artist, who gives too many messages in his art”. Banksy is more concerned with sending a message than fame or positive public reception. While he has made quite a profit off of some of his work (one of his more recent productions sold for $500,000), money never seems to be the driving force behind his art. It seems to be more of a side effect of him producing art to promote his views. While his anonymity may be a result of practicality due to the illegal nature of street art, I believe that if legality was not a concern he would still choose to remain anonymous to place emphasis on his work, rather than his persona. To Banksy, the commentary contained in his art takes precedence over personal fame and financial gain.
