The gift shop is the best part

Last week I braved a dreary rainy DC night* to catch Banksy’s first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop.  Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times dubbed it the harbinger of a new genre: the prankumentary. I went into the theatre with very few expectations. I’m a fan of Banksy’s work and street art in general. One of the things I love about DC is the intelligent and playful street art I see on a daily basis. There was a proliferation of Shepard Fairey** in my neighborhood during the ‘08 election season and much of it remains. However, I know little about the personalities and personal lives of the artists whose tags I recognize.  There was some brief on-screen time with Borf, a prolific tagger in DC whose work I used to see every day when I took the Metro into the city.

For the last decade, a Frenchman hailing from Los Angeles compulsively taped any street artist he could gain access to, starting with his cousin, Space Invader. He moved up through the ranks of graffiti nobility, tailing Shepard Fairey and through him gaining access to the elusive Banksy. This documentarian, Thierry Guetta, was not so much a muse as a specter, haunting these artists with his film camera running, a buzzing apendege. The way in which these thousands of hours of film become this film is fascinating.  I don’t want to spoil much because this is truly one of those documentaries where the twists are the most delicious parts.  What started off as a fanboy tailing his idol becomes a reciprocal artistic relationship for Banksy and Guetta, and the resulting film is as subversive and delightful as the images Banksy is known for.

I was annoyed that the film had virtually no screen time with female graffiti artists. I understand the field is male-dominated, but footage of art by female artists (or those I presume to be female) was included.  They were not of interest to Guetta while he was collecting footage, and the only women who got screen time were publicists, assistants, girlfriends and wives.  (Amanda Fairey’s most memorable line is, “If [Shepard's] not home by 2 a.m., he gets his ass beat and has to sleep on the couch.”)

If you have any interest in street art, conceptual art, or the business side of the art world, I highly recommend Exit Through the Gift Shop.  It’s a thorough study of what Banksy calls the “percieved power” of ubiquity.

You can view the first five minutes of the film below:

*Having deja vu. What a miserable two days of weather we’re having! Heading to Florida soon – it never looked so good.

**Ad Council is always coming up with innovative partnerships for eye-catching campaigns.  Check out this one they just released with Feeding America, with art by Shepard Fairey.