Detail of the cover illustration of Mystery In Space comic book issue #50, March 1959
Since the initial release of Exit Through the Gift Shop in April, there has been a variety of speculation on the "street art" documentary and its questionable veracity. Any time a movie is being made by and about high-concept artistic pranksters, people are going to suspect funny business, but I don't know enough to make a call on whether the whole thing is an elaborate hoax - like Roger Ebert says, that question is part of the film's charm. But I'm stick with describing my initial impressions of the film on seeing it over the weekend, and these impressions were largely based on taking its content at face value.
Exit Through the Gift Shop introduces itself as a documentary by Thierry Guetta, an LA-based store-owner (selling overpriced vintage clothes) and fan of the modern graffiti known as street art. It becomes clear before too long, though, that Guetta is no documentarian - like Jesse Friedman, Daniel Johnston, Mark Borchardt, and others, Guetta is simply an interesting guy who likes to film what's going on around him. His fascination with subversive street artists like Shepard Fairey and Banksy takes him some interesting places, but he is not the storyteller as much as he seems to be at first. So who is telling Guetta's story? I guess it would be the notorious Banksy, the film's listed director, and this is a big reason why people are questioning the movie on a lot of levels.
Without giving too much away, the greatness of Exit Through the Gift Shop is how it introduces a cool subculture in its first half and then takes a weird turn that changes the viewer's perspectives and sympathies, revealing a lot about artists and art. The facts that can be pulled from LA Weekly and other sources reveal that Thierry Guetta did indeed launch an immense art show under the name Mr. Brainwash in 2008 with thousands of attendees. How did this admirer of street art become an artist himself? This is where things get a little murkier, and you have to piece it together from watching the movie yourself.
Easily the most compelling documentary on art I've seen in the last few years, I was still a little disappointed that Exit Through the Gift Shop didn't live up to the "uproariously hilarity" attributed to it in a lot of reviews. It has its funny moments, and the absurdity of the film's last half hour puts everything that came before in a different context, but it's definitely more of a thought-provoking documentary than breezy comedy. It's not just a documentary for people who love documentaries, though - it's accessible to everyone and is a good movie for sitting with some friends and talking about its content for hours afterward.
"Art Song (Something Good With Your Life)" by Andy Partridge
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