Exit Through The Gift Shop

04.25.10
Exit Through The Gift Shop
2010
Starring: Banksey, Shepard Fairey, Theirry Guetta


"I have no interest in ever coming out. I figure there are enough self-opinionated assholes trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is. You ask a lot of kids today what they want to be when they grow up, and they say, “I want to be famous.” You ask them for what reason and they don’t know or care"-Banksy


At the Sundance screening of Exit Through the Gift Shop Banksy delivered a letter to be read at the beginning of the film. “Trying to make a movie which truly conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art is very difficult. So we haven't bothered. Instead, this is simply an everyday tale of life, longing, and mindless vandalism. Everything you are about to see is true, especially the bit where we all lie.” Banksy has always been about creating a discord between average thought and art, he wants to move and shake peoples ideas through a faceless persona. Although I must confess the movie left me an anxiety-ridden-knotted-stomach-fist-clenching mess, it did its job. Banksy said, “I used to encourage everyone to make art, I don’t do that anymore.” This movie left me so upset because the very persona and idea of Banksy was cheapened and distorted by the semi-successful attempt at a hollow-motive driven fame seeker, Thierry. But after giving the film much thought, I realized that Banksy wanted to bring to light the issue that imitation is the highest form of flattery does not always apply, especially when the imitation turns out to just be a cheap-one dimensional copy of the original masterpiece. Although Banksy says that he wasn’t trying to make a movie that “conveys the raw thrill and expressive power of art” he shows exactly what sucks the raw thrill and expressive power out of art, perhaps that’s the more powerful statement. Who’s the joke on? Guess we’ll have to see.