Exit Through The Gift Shop Analysis

Street Art Anthropology In the film “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” Theirry Guetta aka Mr. BrainWash, focuses on the exploration of underground street art, where he accidentally encounters his new focus and passion. So where does anthropology tie into street art? Throughout this documentary there are many anthropological terms that can be discussed. From the cultural relativism of street art societies, to the ideology behind street art culture itself, there are many different beliefs and opinions towards street art. Theirry Guetta was a successful owner of a clothing store in Los Angeles, California, where he continued his obsession with videography. After a visit with his cousin Invader, he finds himself recording his cousin in the act of creating street art on the streets of Paris. Theirry states that “I like what they are doing, I love it because it is a mix of fear &
BrainWasher. But not many street artists believe that Guetta earned or followed the street art rules to achieve his success. Banksy started out as a provincial graffiti artist taking vandalism to an entirely new direction. Not everyone views street art as culture or actual art. It is often viewed as graffiti or vandalism. Not all pieces of street art can be understood by everyone. Some can only be meaningful to the artist themselves. For example in the documentary an artist by the name of Borf creates art to commemorate his best friends’ life that ended. This I believe is an example of cultural relativism. Where you must understand the context of a particular society’s response to the cultural practice of street art. Another example would be Faireys’ piece of art for the last presidential election, Obama’s HOPE poster. There are so many different opinions on this piece of art, but to Fairey it was meant to as stated “deracialized Obama, where he’s not a black man, but a nationalized