Exit Through the Gift Shop

[Temis the Vorta]

I have little interest in or knowledge of street art but this was a fun documentary to watch.

I might not know much about art, but the stuff Thierry was creating for his show was the most godawful crap I've ever seen in my life! It's like he was deliberately creating a parody of art to thumb his nose at the very concept of art, yet perfectly maintaining his deadpan/retard routine. The faux-Warhols with everyone in Marilyn wigs almost made me physically ill. It's hysterical that he ended up making a shitload of money anyway (though I was glad, for the sake of his wife and kids, his wife must be a saint, I would have divorced his insane mortgage-everything ass a long time ago). I did sorta like the Cambells soup spray can and "Bat Papi."

When Thierry and Banksy decided to take on Disneyland, I was cringing. The fools, the unmitigated fools! Do they not know that Disneyland is a police state, and they take an extremely dim view of anyone challenging them on home turf? I'd say they got off lightly.

It was also interesting seeing the guy who created the Obama Hope poster. I never knew he looked like a Mormon.

 

[PsychoPere]

Did you watch this Netflix Instant, as I did earlier today?

Anyways, my sentiments pretty much echo your very first sentence. I had no prior knowledge of "street art" but found this documentary to be very entertaining and interesting.

I think what amused me most was that Thierry claims to have a great deal of respect for the independent nature of the street artists he taped (and I assume that's a genuine feeling; otherwise he spent a lot of time, effort, and money on an insane and elaborate "ride-along"), yet when he decides to take on the challenge for himself, he instead ends up "corporatizing" the whole thing and turning it into an "enterprise" by hiring people to make works based on his own concepts. He turned his "Mister Brainwash" ideas into a brand, which seems antithetical to the entire idea of street art as previously presented in the documentary.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

That's how Mr. Brainwash gets you. Maybe Thierry is just delusional and got so obsessed of being a street artist that he created a persona, essentially copying the very people he was documenting. Even though they befriended him, I wonder if they think he was just a wannabe looking to cash in.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If art comes from a person's unique obsessions, then Thierry went way wrong when he decided to put down his camera and create (or have created for him) a bunch of stuff mimicking street art.

His story about losing his mother in childhood, and his explanation for his obsession with filming - the need to capture the evanescent nature of life - really rang true. That his his core as an artist. If he wants to make stuff to hang on walls, it should come from that inner need, and probably won't have anything to do with street art at all.

Street art is all about impermanence, and Thierry's obsession is all about finding permanence in an impermanent existence. What he's doing is 180 degrees from what he should be doing.

 

[T'Baio]

You guys are assuming the documentary is even really a "documentary" in the first place.

This is Banksy, after all.

 

[PsychoPere]

Seeing as how I know absolutely nothing about the individual beyond what was in the film, that statement means literally nothing to me. I had never heard of him before that, and don't particularly plan to read anything on him now.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

You guys are assuming the documentary is even really a "documentary" in the first place.

This is Banksy, after all.

Thierry's art was too horrible to be faked.

If the guy playing Thierry was acting the whole time, kudos to him, he's a hell of an actor.

But if the whole scenario was faked, that would explain why Thierry's wife didn't murder him when he mortgaged his house and business to make paintings of Michael Jackson as Marilyn Monroe.

 

[Canadave]

Yeah, I haven't seen it, but there's a lot of talk that it's actually a work of fiction.

 

[T'Baio]

Trust me, there's much more to it than meets the eye.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It'll be easy to tell if it's a fake. If the guy playing Thierry was acting, he's got a future in Hollywood as a character actor. Some agent will snap him up and we'll start seeing him in the kinds of roles Paul Giametti used to play.

 

[T'Baio]

Unless he's part of Banksy's inner circle.

Banksy has graffiti'ed the walls of the Gaza Strip and not gotten caught. He's quite good at pulling an almighty fast one.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

What, is he Banksy's slave or something?

He lives in LA. When Hollywood comes knocking, he'll answer the door.

Banksy has graffiti'ed the walls of the Gaza Strip and not gotten caught.

Which is a cinch compared with somehow preventing a talented actor from pursuing a potentially lucrative career, and fame and fortune.

And how did Banksy orchestrate Thierry selling a million dollars worth of horrible crap? If the whole thing was faked, where did the money come from? Is Banksy independently wealthy and that was his own money, dispensed through intermediaries?