Exit Through the Gift Shop
Encyclopedia
Guetta happily accepts the assignment, adopting the name "Mr. Brainwash
", putting up street art in the city and six months later, re-mortgaging his business to afford renting copious equipment and a complete production team to create pieces of art under his supervision. He rents a former CBS studio to prepare his first show, "Life Is Beautiful", and scales up his production to something much larger than Banksy suggested, but with little focus. When Guetta breaks his foot after falling off a ladder, Banksy realises that the show may well become a trainwreck, and sends a few professionals to help Guetta out. While the producers take care of the practical side of the show, Guetta spends his time on more publicity, asking support from both Fairey and Banksy, eventually taping up huge billboards with their quotes, and ultimately ending up on the cover of L. A. Weekly. Preparation is seriously behind schedule, and Guetta's production team insists that he must make decisions — yet Guetta spends his time hyping up and marketing his work for tens of thousands of dollars. Eight hours before the opening, paintings are still missing from the walls, and since Guetta is busy giving interviews, the eventual layout of the show is decided by the crew itself.
Despite all this, however, the show becomes a raging success with the crowd, and after the first week of the show, Guetta sells almost a million dollars worth of art, with his pieces showing in galleries all around the world, to the utter confusion of both Fairey and Banksy. In an ending montage, Guetta insists that time will tell whether he is a real artist or not.
, and was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2011 Academy Awards
. One consistent theme in the reviews was the authenticity of the film: Was the film just an elaborate ruse on Banksy's part, or did Guetta really evolve into Mr. Brainwash
overnight? The Boston Globe
movie reviewer Ty Burr
found it to be quite entertaining and awarded it four stars. He dismissed the notion of the film being a "put on" saying "I’m not buying it; for one thing, this story’s too good, too weirdly rich, to be made up. For another, the movie’s gently amused scorn lands on everyone." Roger Ebert
gave it 3.5 stars out of 4, starting his review saying that "The widespread speculation that Exit Through the Gift Shop is a hoax only adds to its fascination." However, in an interview with SuicideGirls
, filmmakers Jaimie D'Cruz and Chris King denied that it was a hoax, and expressed their growing frustration with the speculation that it was: "For a while we all thought that was quite funny, but it went on for so long. It was a bit disappointing when it became basically accepted as fact, that it was all just a silly hoax ... I felt it was a shame that the whole thing was going to be dismissed like that really - because we knew it was true."
The New York Times movie reviewer Jeannette Catsoulis wrote that the film could be a new subgenre, a "prankumentary".
New York Film Critics Online
bestowed its Best Documentary Award on the film in 2010. French journalist Marjolaine Gout gave it 4 stars out of 5, linking Mr. Brainwash and Jeff Koons
and criticizing Thierry Guetta's art as toilet papering
.
It was awarded Best Movie of 2010 by Rooster Teeth Productions
.
, Open Air, The Lyfe, Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English, Rash
, Restless Debt of the Third World, Spending Time, Turf War, Elis G The Life of a Shadow, Memoria Canalla, C215 in London, Beautiful Losers".
Mr. Brainwash
Mr. Brainwash is a pseudonym for Thierry Guetta. According to the Banksy directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta who now lives in Los Angeles, California, having been a proprietor of a clothing store and videographer who evolved into a street artist and gallery artist, influenced by the...
", putting up street art in the city and six months later, re-mortgaging his business to afford renting copious equipment and a complete production team to create pieces of art under his supervision. He rents a former CBS studio to prepare his first show, "Life Is Beautiful", and scales up his production to something much larger than Banksy suggested, but with little focus. When Guetta breaks his foot after falling off a ladder, Banksy realises that the show may well become a trainwreck, and sends a few professionals to help Guetta out. While the producers take care of the practical side of the show, Guetta spends his time on more publicity, asking support from both Fairey and Banksy, eventually taping up huge billboards with their quotes, and ultimately ending up on the cover of L. A. Weekly. Preparation is seriously behind schedule, and Guetta's production team insists that he must make decisions — yet Guetta spends his time hyping up and marketing his work for tens of thousands of dollars. Eight hours before the opening, paintings are still missing from the walls, and since Guetta is busy giving interviews, the eventual layout of the show is decided by the crew itself.
Despite all this, however, the show becomes a raging success with the crowd, and after the first week of the show, Guetta sells almost a million dollars worth of art, with his pieces showing in galleries all around the world, to the utter confusion of both Fairey and Banksy. In an ending montage, Guetta insists that time will tell whether he is a real artist or not.
Production
Banksy has said in interviews that editing the film together was an arduous process, noting that "I spent a year [...] watching footage of sweaty vandals falling off ladders" and "The film was made by a very small team. It would have been even smaller if the editors didn't keep having mental breakdowns. They went through over 10,000 hours of Thierry's tapes and got literally seconds of usable footage out of it." Producer Jaimie D'Cruz wrote in his production diary that obtaining the original tapes from Thierry was particularly complicated.Reception and hoax speculation
The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews, holding 96% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, and was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2011 Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
. One consistent theme in the reviews was the authenticity of the film: Was the film just an elaborate ruse on Banksy's part, or did Guetta really evolve into Mr. Brainwash
Mr. Brainwash
Mr. Brainwash is a pseudonym for Thierry Guetta. According to the Banksy directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta who now lives in Los Angeles, California, having been a proprietor of a clothing store and videographer who evolved into a street artist and gallery artist, influenced by the...
overnight? The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
movie reviewer Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Ty Burr has been a film critic for the Boston Globe since 2002 where he reviews films alongside Wesley Morris.Born in 1957, he studied film at Dartmouth College and New York University and has written three books: The Hundred Greatest Movies of All Time, The Hundred Greatest Stars of All Time and...
found it to be quite entertaining and awarded it four stars. He dismissed the notion of the film being a "put on" saying "I’m not buying it; for one thing, this story’s too good, too weirdly rich, to be made up. For another, the movie’s gently amused scorn lands on everyone." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave it 3.5 stars out of 4, starting his review saying that "The widespread speculation that Exit Through the Gift Shop is a hoax only adds to its fascination." However, in an interview with SuicideGirls
SuicideGirls
SuicideGirls is a website that features softcore pornography and text profiles of goth, punk and indie-styled young women who are known as the "Suicide Girls"...
, filmmakers Jaimie D'Cruz and Chris King denied that it was a hoax, and expressed their growing frustration with the speculation that it was: "For a while we all thought that was quite funny, but it went on for so long. It was a bit disappointing when it became basically accepted as fact, that it was all just a silly hoax ... I felt it was a shame that the whole thing was going to be dismissed like that really - because we knew it was true."
The New York Times movie reviewer Jeannette Catsoulis wrote that the film could be a new subgenre, a "prankumentary".
New York Film Critics Online
New York Film Critics Online
The New York Film Critics Online is an organization composed of Internet film critics based in New York City. The group meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.-Awards:*New York Film Critics Online Awards 2003...
bestowed its Best Documentary Award on the film in 2010. French journalist Marjolaine Gout gave it 4 stars out of 5, linking Mr. Brainwash and Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons
Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....
and criticizing Thierry Guetta's art as toilet papering
Toilet papering
Toilet papering is the act of covering an object, such as a tree, house, or another structure with toilet paper. This is typically done by throwing numerous toilet paper rolls in such a way that they unroll in mid-air and thus fall on the targeted object in multiple streams...
.
It was awarded Best Movie of 2010 by Rooster Teeth Productions
Rooster Teeth Productions
Rooster Teeth Productions is a production group from Austin, Texas that specializes in the creation of live action shorts, animated peices and machinima, or films created using real-time, interactive engines from computer and video games. The name Rooster Teeth is a euphemism for Cockbite, an...
.
Life Remote Control
Swiss film-maker Joachim Levy, who helped edit and produce Guetta's film Life Remote Control, clips from which are seen in the film, has reportedly asked for his contribution to be recognised. "I would like very much to be credited for the movie, for my work", Levy told The New York Times in an interview in January 2011, saying he felt he had been taken advantage of and that the footage had been taken out of context.Archival footage
The film's opening montage features archival footage from notable street art films from across the world. Films include "Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe, Infamy, Inside Outside, NextNEXT: A Primer on Urban Painting
Next: A Primer on Urban Painting is a 2005 documentary film from Canadian filmmaker Pablo Aravena, exploring creative urban visual culture.- External links :* - An Interview with Pablo Aravena...
, Open Air, The Lyfe, Popaganda: The Art and Crimes of Ron English, Rash
RASH (film)
Rash, stylized as RASH, is a 2005 Australian documentary film, directed by Nicholas Hansen. Its subject is contemporary urban Australia and the artists who are making it a living host for illegal artwork called street art...
, Restless Debt of the Third World, Spending Time, Turf War, Elis G The Life of a Shadow, Memoria Canalla, C215 in London, Beautiful Losers".
See also
- DeadboyDeadboyDeadboy is a Toronto graffiti artist who is best known for his stencil graffiti critiquing Toronto mayor Rob Ford and brother Doug Ford, Jr., a city councilor. His actual name has not yet been revealed. He was inspired to begin stenciling in 2010, when he saw Exit Through the Gift Shop, broke up...
, a Toronto graffiti artist whose work has been partly inspired by the film.
Further reading
- Jackson, Candace; Schuker, Lauren A. E., "Mr. Brainwash: For Real?", The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2010.
- Ryzik, Melena, "Riddle? Yes. Enigma? Sure. Documentary?", The New York Times, April 13, 2010.
- Exit Through the Gift Shop as commentary on the relationship between art, innovation, and commerce. On Mises.org
- Tarantino, A (2011): Seattle Street Art - A Visual Time Capsule Beyond Graffiti, Createspace, ISBN 061545190X
External links
- 'Shenanigans Are What He Does': Is Banksy Gunning For An Oscar? - audio report by NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
- Critical essay on the film's blurred status as doc/mockumentary at Alternate Takes