Exit Through the Gift Shop

I watched this documentary last night. Not what I expected, but excellent. It was an adventurous, fast paced, informative account of street art culture around the world. The director is sure to depict the graffiti of some big name street artists (Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, etc.) as an entire cultural movement. In order to appreciate the work, I think that one should see this expanding medium in such a way. These artists are taking risks to spread a message. They are doing what they want and saying what they want. Their spontaneous lives are full of tricky encounters and memorable stories. They travel the world to find the best walls to sprawl their work. They make boring buildings and street corners places of major social interest. They are crowd-pleasers. And all of the citizens snapping camera phone shots of their works cannot deny this.

The film mostly tells the story of the director, Thierry Guetta (a.k.a. Mr. Brainwash) and his ever expanding obsession with the street art world. His interest grows as he follows around his cousin, "Space Invader", on his graffiti excursions. From this sprouts an overwhelming love for graffiti. Thierry researches and finds other popular street art names. He becomes a document-er, keeping track of the pieces of art that would otherwise be temporary. Eventually, he takes up the life-style himself, organizing an entire exhibit with his countless newly developed pieces. He films everything. He is a little nutty. However, the entire hour and twenty-six minutes are utterly captivating.