Taking a Closer Look at The Gift Shop

A while ago I watched one of the most fascinating documentaries I had ever seen. Not only did I find it humorous but incredibly compelling when looking at the nature of modern peoples psyche. The doc that I watched was "Exit Through the Gift Shop". (Possible Spoiler Alert)

(By: eerkmans Taken From: Flickr)

The film is a complete depiction of how the world of graffiti and street art has merged with the high priced, high classed realm of modern art enthusiasts. In the beginning, the film starts to explore LA locals in their attempt to leave their art and message on the walls of the city. They turned downtown Los Angelus into their own concrete playground. By climbing buildings and tagging, pasting or stenciling they were able to get their message to millions on a daily basis. Quite quickly this was not only a rebellious way of expression but started to become a desired art form by collectors.

The documentary follows some of the biggest names in the "street art movement", such as Banksy, OBEY, Space Invader and Monsieur André. They are seen in their natural environment of running around the dark streets not only causing mischief, but creating profound statements through their art. Through the camera lens of a little homeless looking french man, they are followed and befriended by none other than Thierry Guetta. He is an aspiring camera man who just likes to document his interests. Thus falling in love with street art, it caused him to never leave the artist's sights.

Thierry starts to realize the social stigma behind this new art form is changing through a series of successful art shows with pieces being sold in the thousands of dollars. He decides he has learned enough to do it for himself and Thierry took the alter ego of "Mr. Brainwash". As Mr. Brainwash Thierry took street art to the new extreme, by creating one of the biggest art shows in LA history. He ended up selling millions of dollars    (By: Matt Hobbs From: diversifiedfocus.com)  worth of paintings for pieces he had other artists create. For many of these digitally remade pictures, he sold them in the tens of thousands. He quickly become one of the most famous street artists and was idolized by some, but not by the previous artists he got his start by following.

Whether it was resentment for Thierry being so successful, or the fact that he was taking advantage of trend following individuals, many of his previous contacts felt that the art community was taken advantage of. Regardless if true or not, one can see the rise of North Americas newest art form and the incredable acceptance it received from art enthusiasts. I would completely recommend watching this documentary if you can appreciate new art forms and want to learn a little of the background behind some of the artists behind this "movement".

Thanks for Reading,
David