The documentary or, “mocumentary” Exit through the Gift Shop was, I feel, created to spread the message that if someone is given an outlet to show the world how they express themselves, it shouldn’t matter if the movie is legitimate or not. If you look at it another way, Banksy is expressing his views and ideas as a director, and not necessarily the street artists’ views. On the other hand, it is an interesting examination into the world of a graffiti artist.
The film, I feel, put graffiti artists in a good light, when to some people they are viewed as mysterious individuals who vandalize others’ property. The main point that they always drive is that this activity is illegal. I think that the fact that it is illegal adds a certain quality to this type of art that cannot be found in stereotypical art. It shows that the artists is willing to go out at risk being arrested just to express himself to the world. The artists use this to their advantage to gain a sort of “popularity” to their name, or image for that matter.
The documentary stated that Terry Guetta started filming every aspect of his life once he lost his mother. He did this because he said he “didn’t want to miss anything” and he wanted to remember all aspects of his life exactly as they happened. Before this film was created, he really did not have a name as an artist. He was relatively “under the radar.” It looks as if he didn’t pursue any sort of career as a film maker; all of his tapes were poorly shot and shaky. Once he moved into the graffiti “scene” his career then took off. He had one huge art show where he sold his paintings for incredible amounts of money and attracted a lot of media attention.
Honestly, I think Brian Walsh is a scam. Everything he has done is exactly like Banksey or Ferry. Because of this, I would discredit him as an artist. Taking a look at his resume, he has no background in any form of art, he never attempted to further his understanding of art, such as studying how other artists work or becoming an apprentice to a respected artist, and he used to sell crap European clothes in America as designer simply because they were not what the people around him were accustomed to. This was intentionally put in the movie, I think, because Banksy wanted to show everyone that he was kind of shifty and was simply in it for the profit.
