Documentary Analysis: Exit Through The Gift Shop

There is no true definition of art. To me, art is very subjective and can mean different things for different people. In my opinion, art is a form of self-expression or filling in a space in a way that is beautiful or aesthetically pleasing to the artist. A true work of art can be a painting, a sculpture, a picture, a video, a play, a piece of writing, or a drawing that is full of imagination, creativity, and skill. For something to be considered art, it must be arranged in a meaningful way. This does not mean it should be a cut and dry realistic piece of art where the viewer knows exactly what they are looking at; it could be abstract and still be considered art because the artist intended to arrange their art piece in an abstract way. There …show more content…
However, I think that the document was all an elaborate prank by Banksy, the famous English street artist who refuses to reveal his true identity. First, the documentary was originally supposed to be about Thierry Guetta, an unknown, nobody, who constantly carries his camera everywhere and ironically found a bunch of different famous street artists, including Banksy, to record their work. However, the documentary ended up being about Banksy, not Thierry or other street artists, which makes the viewer think that the whole documentary was supposed to be about Banksy in the first place. I believe the documentary was made to promote and show more of Banksy’s work because street art is all about self-promotion because if not, artists will get no recognition for their work. However, the documentary was also made to pull a fast one on all the viewers and consumers who bought work from Thierry also known as Mr. Brainwash (MBW) who is most likely a paid actor cast for this specific role in the documentary. It is also ironic how MBW’s work looks like a knockoff, fake version of Banksy’s and the famous artist Andy Warhol’s. For example, one of the most famous pieces that MBW “created” was a play on Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Tomato Soup can. MBW also did absolutely nothing at all and, in a very short amount of …show more content…
It was created by Banksy to show how art has become more of a form of consumerism rather than self-expression. He was able to show this idea by promoting a fake artist, MBW, and making millions of dollars off it. Banksy himself even talked about how Thierry was an amateur and his work was not that great during one of his interviews throughout the “documentary”. All in all, art is something that is unique to the artist. For some people, it makes them who they are. Although consumerism is necessary for an artist to have a career, people need to be buying the art for the sake of its beauty not to jump on the bandwagon because then the art keeps its importance and connection to the artist who created it. Mass consumerism takes the unique qualities out of a piece of art and for many artists, they did not create the artwork to sell it. They created it because it is part of who they are, not to suit the interests of the general