Exit Through the Gift Shop by Kim Fielding

art-world hipsters, who turn out in droves. Which makes it irresistible to many would-be L.A. The work is derivative of the derivative. Marilyn Monroe's Warholian silhouette is merged with Barack Obama's. Elvis Presley holds a Fisher Price toy gun. Brainwash' gives us a Campbell's soup spray-can. Where Andy Warhol gave us a Campbell's soup can, 'Mr. In this last part, Thierry transforms into a classic fool, both pretentious and empty, a cross between Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau and his Chance the Gardner from Being There. As shown in Thierry's footage, his satirical assaults on politics, culture, and capitalism in settings as various as the alleyways of London, the barrier wall in the West Bank, and the rides of Disneyland are provocations of genius. Like other New Yorkers, I lived for more than a decade staring at buildings and subways covered with eyesore graffiti, so my view of so-called street art is relativist: If it's good, it justifies the vandalism if it isn't, throw 'em in jail. I like to capture those people because I thought it was nice what they were doing. 'It was like more than any drugs to anybody. 'I wanted to make a movie about street art, so I wanted to get as much info as possible,' he says. After he explains why Thierry's videotaping is important, Thierry himself speaks. He's in silhouette, under a hoodie, his voice distorted. Among those artists were: Thierry's cousin Space Invader, known for affixing Space Invader video-game images to walls and bridges Shepard Fairey, who'd break through to the mainstream with his Obama posters and finally Banksy himself.īanksy appears on camera - sort of. The acid narration is by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, who explains how unemployed sad-sack Thierry became obsessed with videotaping street artists at their clandestine, illegal labors. How that flip-flop happened and what happened next is the story of the film.Īnd it's a wonderful, often hilarious film, even if doubts about its authenticity linger. named Thierry Guetta, who set out to film guerrilla street artists around the world, including the most elusive of them all, Banksy.Īt some point, Banksy took over the camera and Thierry became the subject. But the original director, we're told, was a Frenchman living in L.A. The new art-world documentary Exit through the Gift Shop is billed as being directed by Banksy, which is the pseudonym for an incognito British street artist who has been widely denounced but even more widely celebrated. With: Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Thierry Guetta

Exit Through the Gift Shop by Kim Fielding