Mister Brainwash
Mister Brainwash: Legitimate Artist or Fraud?
Ideally, an artist is a person who creates art as an expression of thought or feeling. Yes, it seems a simple idea, but what really make a true artist can be confusing. Beyond the creation of art, true artists are those who carry important messages out to the world through their artworks and do so not for monetary but for public attention. It is a change in culture where these artists wanted to send the people a message by putting up their artworks in the street. The documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop, is the story of a French videographer Thierry Guetta, a man obsessed with videotaping and his entry into the street art world. Thierry starts his street art journey by following his cousin, Space Invader, and then, after meeting Banksy, immerses himself fully into the culture of street art. Banksy, a world-famous street artist who uses street art to address social and political issues, often make pieces about issues that people are afraid to talk about. After following and being inspired by Banksy, Thierry starts creating his own art and exhibiting it, calling himself “Mister Brainwash.” Unexpectedly, Mister Brainwash takes off in popularity. Nevertheless, his overnight popularity leads viewers to question his ability as an artist and the authority of the art world. Through comparison of Mister Brainwash and Banksy, it becomes clear that Mr. Brainwash cannot be considered a legitimate artist due to his lack of personal innovation or deep connection to his artwork. His success ultimately suggests that the art world has failed to maintain the original meaning of art.
While Banksy’s art is his own, Mister Brainwash’s (M.B.W) art is a mixture of various ideas from other artists. In a scene in which M.B.W prepares for his very first exhibition, he is shown to be a fraud. One of his employees, David Healy, reveals M.B.W’S fraudulence when he says, “[M.B.W] goes through the book [Art USA], [he] finds the painting that he
Ideally, an artist is a person who creates art as an expression of thought or feeling. Yes, it seems a simple idea, but what really make a true artist can be confusing. Beyond the creation of art, true artists are those who carry important messages out to the world through their artworks and do so not for monetary but for public attention. It is a change in culture where these artists wanted to send the people a message by putting up their artworks in the street. The documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop, is the story of a French videographer Thierry Guetta, a man obsessed with videotaping and his entry into the street art world. Thierry starts his street art journey by following his cousin, Space Invader, and then, after meeting Banksy, immerses himself fully into the culture of street art. Banksy, a world-famous street artist who uses street art to address social and political issues, often make pieces about issues that people are afraid to talk about. After following and being inspired by Banksy, Thierry starts creating his own art and exhibiting it, calling himself “Mister Brainwash.” Unexpectedly, Mister Brainwash takes off in popularity. Nevertheless, his overnight popularity leads viewers to question his ability as an artist and the authority of the art world. Through comparison of Mister Brainwash and Banksy, it becomes clear that Mr. Brainwash cannot be considered a legitimate artist due to his lack of personal innovation or deep connection to his artwork. His success ultimately suggests that the art world has failed to maintain the original meaning of art.
While Banksy’s art is his own, Mister Brainwash’s (M.B.W) art is a mixture of various ideas from other artists. In a scene in which M.B.W prepares for his very first exhibition, he is shown to be a fraud. One of his employees, David Healy, reveals M.B.W’S fraudulence when he says, “[M.B.W] goes through the book [Art USA], [he] finds the painting that he