Banksy is among my favorite working artists. His satirical wit brings a smile to my face every time I see one of his pieces. His reason for the season image (on the left) is appropriate on many levels. I cannot imagine that it would survive in the wild. Here is a suggestion for next year – let’s use this on our bus ads. I’m sure it will get a rise.
I watched Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop a few days ago. It gets my vote for best documentary of the year. I enjoyed every minutes of it. Especially when I learned the street name of the main subject. I nearly fell out of may chair.
It seems to be a natural fit for a documentary. But Mr. Guetta’s nonstop footage turns out to be unwatched (he has boxes and boxes of unlabeled tapes) and even when he cobbles something together after years of shooting, largely unwatchable. “He was maybe just somebody with mental problems who happened to have a camera,” Banksy says in the film.
So Banksy decides to take control of the material himself — or so we’re told. Robbed of his camera and prodded by Banksy, Mr. Guetta, meanwhile, morphs into a street artist, inventing an alter ego called Mr. Brainwash and staging an opening exhibition in Los Angeles that turns him into an overnight sensation, all of which is captured in “Exit Through the Gift Shop.”
I detest Mr. Brainwash. I’ve always thought the guy was a hack. Now I know why. I’m pretty sure he’s a gag invented by Bansky.
