Exit Through The Gift Shop Analysis

The film Exit Through the Gift Shop by Banksy is about an amateur filmmaker turned street artist named Thierry Guetta. Guetta has always been found with a camera in his hands. He filmed anyone and everything he saw. He was first introduced to street art by his cousin The Space Invader, whose signature style is to put up pixelated space invader tiles around different cities. Guetta followed and filmed his cousin preforming his street art on numerous occasions. He first started filming street art because he thought what they were doing was a nice thing. Soon Guetta started following other street artists and capturing their art and the reactions of the people seeing it. One notable artist was Shepard Fairy, known for his Obama hope posters and his obey
signs. With Fairy, Guetta decided to make a documentary about street art. Guetta then meet the street artist Banksy and was the first person to film his work. The time came to make his documentary, unfortunately the film was not made well, so Banksy took it upon himself to create the movie. He told Guetta to go to Los Angeles and make art. In Los Angeles he took on the persona of Mr. Brainwash and started creating his own street art. Coming late into art Guetta started with big projects around cities. Moving quick in the art world he employed workers to mass produce his work and to create a gallery to showcase his art. He became a huge hit with the public, but to many of his fellow street artist Guetta did not developed his skills as an artist and is not well praised. I enjoyed this film.
Even as a documentary the characters were fully explored and made me think about art and why we made it. I partly agree with the film maker and other street artists about Guetta’s works not being great. From a personal standpoint I believe he is just copying what he sees. He does not create original work. He emulates other street artist, but does not make the art truly his own. Even when he creates art he does not believe he needs to do it himself. He thinks he can just hire people to do it for him. To me art is something you have touch and mold with your hands. You have to become a part of it by creating it. Half of what makes art enjoyable is the creation. Starting off with nothing and ending with something incredible makes art worth the work. I also agree with Banksy that art takes time. Artist need to find what makes their art special. Skills need to grow and honed upon before moving on to big overwhelming projects. Artist start from the bottom and work their way up. In a way I also disagree with Banksy about Guetta’s work. If creating art makes you happy then you should do it. It does not matter what others say as long as you are happy with the work you have created and can stand behind
it.