Is there really no thread for Exit Through The Gift Shop?

[Suu]

This is it done:

[Suu]

I gotta try to find this one again too. I remember seeing it not that long ago, but I wonder if it was taken down.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/richgaccione/3368080581/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richgaccione/3368080341/in/photostream/

Yeah, I think it's gone. I pass by there a lot.

[Placid Dingo]

Also there's the idea the whole film is a hoax. Which is possible.

I'm mad on Banksy. I have a quick article on post graffiti (and the next step) here- http://placiddingo.com/?p=162

I agree with the tagging over murals being bullshit. Tagging isn't always gang related though.

Also an argument against graffiti based on cleanup costs is bogus. If you want to aggressively clean all the graffiti don't bitch that it costs you lots if money to carry out your own policy.

[East Coast Hustle]

Personally, I have no problem with $2 or $3 of my tax money going to graffiti cleanup. I prefer to think of it as a government-sponsored program to provide street artists with clean canvasses.

[navkat]

Fuck, alright, I came into the thread to talk about the documentary, not act like a dickhead.  Apologies for the latter.

I mostly tried to keep my last post about the movie itself vague, but this one will contain spoilers, to the extent that they can exist in this context.

Like I mentioned above, it felt like a fan film for Banksy by Banksy at points.  If I knew the project had been done by a third party, I could forgive the gushing over his work and the sole credit it gives him in getting street art legitimized.  I can't.  That said, I don't hate the attention it gave to an interesting and talented artist.  Banksy himself, when appearing, seemed genuinely funny (specifically his "oh shit I just counterfeited a million dollars" moment).

I think that was part of the ruse/surprise ending. You start out watching the movie, believing that this fanboy, Thierry shot all the documentary footage and turned the whole thing into an expose on the elusive Banksy...then you get punched in the fayce in the final act with the whole "Trompe le monde" finger up the ass. The focus is not supposed to be on Banksy or the other artists after all: it's about Thierry. It's about two contradictory concepts concurrently: The first is a thumbed nose at the very same establishment that made Banksy himself famous: "The only message/art you can trust is that which is done without fanfare or profit."

The second is: "What constitutes art anyway? Is Thierry not a legitimate artist of sorts simply for what he accomplished? Isn't art in and of itself a form of marketing? Marketing of thoughts? of ideas? feelings? Is plagiarism and mockery not in itself part of the creative process?"

These are the very same messages the KLF put out there ...and Warhol before them.

That said, I don't trust the movie whatsoever.  I don't know enough about the art world to know if this is just the Fahrenheit 9/11 for Banksy.  Yeah, MBW is pretty well loathed by his former allies and basically shown as an obsessive fanboy with a touch of complete crazy thrown in.  But Banksy is a trickster, as is amply shown.  So we have a scenario where MBW's art might be considered "good."  Banksy creates a film to try to prove that MBW's art isn't "good", that people are buying into art world hype.  What the hell would we do if Banksy gets these accolades, then comes out and say "No, MBW's art is actually good, but you saw an argument that it was bullshit, and believed that instead."

Funny you should say that. There's evidence to suggest that the pieces showcased as Thierry's "style biting" are actually legitimate pieces done by other "real deal" artists.

Do some googling and you'll see a LOT of familiar pieces from the film attributed to other artists. I don't believe this is a coincidence. I have three theories but my favorite is closest to the "Banksy's having a laugh at our expense."