The past year has been a good year for art documentaries. Between The Art of the Steal and Exit Through the Gift Shop, filmgoers have been given a lot to think about in regards to the value of art, why we create art, and even the very definition of art. The Art of the Steal examined how a local government was corrupted by greed, and they saw how art which was meant to be used for education was eventually exploited for profit. Exit Through the Gift Shop examines how the modern day art world changed the medium of graffiti art and altered one man’s life forever.
Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary that opens following Thierry Guetta, a French clothing store owner living in Los Angeles who has an odd obsession with filming everything he sees. Thierry befriends Invader, a famous graffiti artist, and films Invader’s work as a way to preserve it. As the film progresses, Thierry delves deeper into the world of graffiti art and ends up filming some of the most well-known graffiti artists in the world including Shepard Fairey and the elusive Banksy. Without giving too much away, the film eventually shifts its focus away from Invader, Shepard Fairey, and Banksy and spends the rest of the film looking back at Thierry. This is where Exit Through the Gift Shop changes from a great documentary about graffiti art to one of the best films of the year, examining the very idea of art, commercialization, and whether public acceptance makes someone a true artist.
First off, the footage of these artists at work is incredible. Not only are these people talented as artists but they are physically agile. Every night, they run up walls away from the cops and risk getting arrested so that the world might see their work, if only for a short time. In a way, it was art in its purest form. Their work was entirely for themselves. They didn’t have galleries to hang their work, pieces to sell to the highest bidder, or art memorabilia to sell to the tourists. Graffiti art was art without boundaries or outside corruption. Invader and Shepard Fairey did their art for the sheer joy and freedom of it.
As some of these graffiti artists became more accepted, however, the nature of their work changed. Banksy’s shows, though subversive and thought-provoking, paved the way for the ultimate commercialization of graffiti art in Mister Brain Wash (MBW). By taking away the temporary nature of graffiti, they lost the purity of it. Museums could host exhibitions, and their work could be sold off for hundreds of thousands of dollars to art collectors who had Picassos hanging in their bathrooms. Exit Through the Gift Shop shows that the one way to destroy the power of the rebel is to legitimize them and write them big fat checks.
I have heard that there is speculation about whether Exit Through the Gift Shop and the story of Thierry Guetta is real or if it is a trick by Banksy. After I’m Still Here, I understand why filmgoers are skeptical of documentaries, even those professing time and again to be real. (Yes, I’m talking about you, Casey Affleck. You claimed your film was real, so don’t say that you didn’t.) What is so cool about Exit Through the Gift Shop is that if the news came out tomorrow that the whole story was faked, I would still want to watch it again and continue discussing the questions it brings up. If the story is entirely true, then I think it is an amazing film achievement, but if it isn’t entirely true, then it is still one of the best films of the year.
The ultimate message of Exit Through the Gift Shop is that art is powerful and can bring about true social change. You don’t have to look any further than Shepard Fairey, one of the film’s main subjects, who painted the now famous “HOPE” poster which became the face of the Obama 2008 campaign. On the other hand, however, it shows that art can so easily lose its power when artists start caring more about money than what their art actually means. Banksy says in the film that Andy Warhol repeated the Campbell Soup cans and other images until they had meaning while Mister Brain Wash repeats images until they lose meaning. We must consciously refuse to participate in an art culture that cares more about money and repeating past successes than creating truly original work, and it ultimately comes back to us the consumer to demand better.
SPECIAL FEATURES
There are several deleted scenes, a brief look at Thierry’s 90-minute film “Life Remote Control,” and a featurette on Banksy’s work.
"Exit Through the Gift Shop" is on sale December 14, 2010 and is rated R. Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Indie, Reality. Directed by Banksy. Starring Banksy, Rhys Ifans, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, Thierry Guetta.
