Film Review: Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Street art is a controversial topic. While the work that artists like Banksy or Shephard Fairey create can be as beautiful or thought-provoking as anything hanging in a gallery, it is illegal. These street artists chose graffiti as their medium and, if they're lucky, they can become international sensations on the art scene. Their illegal activity can become a huge source of revenue. However, when walls are literally stripped apart to sell a new piece by Banksy, a whole new crop of issues unfold.

Banksy's documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop is an exploration of recent history. Using footage from Thierry Guetta, a vintage clothes store owner who always walks around with a camcorder, Banksy cuts together an intriguing character study of the man behind Mr. Brainwash. Thierry Guetta had no idea what he was going to do with the years of footage he captured of street artists like Space Invader (his cousin, a French mosaic artist who recreates 8bit panels of the arcade game and glues them to public structures) and Shepherd Fairey (the man behind the Obama "Hope" posters and the iconic Andre the Giant stencil). Guetta began following artists all around the world as they posted their work on the streets. He filmed them in copy shops preparing the material, on the streets gluing and spraying the projects, and in altercations with police officers. If the film had stopped as an exploration of how these strange works are created, it would be an interesting and straightforward documentary.

Straightforward isn't good enough for Banksy. He hinges the narrative on Guetta's quest to capture Banksy. When they finally meet, Guetta becomes a willing accomplice in Banksy's strange displays. This provides video evidence of the reaction to and creation of Banksy's installations. Again, had the film focused solely on the mysterious London graffiti artist, it would be an engaging documentary about a unique contemporary figure.

That, too, is unsatisfactory for Banksy. He flips the camera around and suggests Guetta begin producing his own art. Guetta transforms into MBW, Mr. Brainwash, and goes wild. He covers up art from Banksy and Fairey and everyone else he filmed. He hires more talented artists to cut his stencils and run his screen-prints. He turns MBW into a brand and sets out to produce the ultimate street art gallery showing without making a single piece of art by himself. This is where Banksy reveals his true intentions.

Exit Through the Gift Shop is not a documentary about the creation of street art, its history, or its legacy. It is a scathing commentary on the state of art in the world. Banksy has a problem with people clammoring after street art. Street art is a reaction to the gallery movement. Auctioning off a beat up telephone booth to the highest bidder defeats the purpose of installing the piece in the first place. Many of the more famous street artists are happily earning their livings through gallery shows, interviews, and legal installations. All of this detracts from the initial inspiration. The work becomes increasingly derivative as what gave these artists their reputations--repetition--becomes the only form they know.

Banksy states in the beginning of the film that street art is not as interesting as Thierry Guetta; he is right. Guetta's footage represents the pinnacle of achievement in street art as viewed by mainstream society. He learns how the process works, makes friends, travels the world, crafts an iconic image, and hedges everything on an overhyped, overbloated gallery show. Artists like Mr. Brainwash earn their livings taking advantage of people overly concerned with the next big thing. It doesn't matter to them that everything Mr. Brainwash creates is based off of Banksy, Fairey, and Warhol. All that matters is that they own a piece of underground culture they can use to show off to their friends.

If there is a problem with Exit Through the Gift Shop, it is that Banksy did not sell his subject as strong as he needs to. It's all well and good to show this great footage shot by Guetta on the big screen. The problem is believability. I doubt most people are willing to go research that these events--Banksy's gallery show, Guetta's media blitz, all the auction footage--actually happened as they are shown. In trying to portray the world as Guetta captured it, Banksy crafts an interesting narrative that seems too good to be true. There is one sequence at Disneyland, for example, that makes no sense if you don't know how Guetta's camcorder works. Other times, like reflecting on press about his LA gallery show, Banksy never quite articulates his point. What's on the screen is often ambiguous.

Had Exit Through the Gift Shop pushed its critical viewpoint more to the forefront, it would be an excellent documentary. As it stands, it is interesting, but flawed. If the audience doesn't believe all the facts presented or walks away questioning why it was made at all, a documentary has not succeeded. Viewed as a study of Guetta alone, the film falls flat. He is the only artist we never see create his own work. We barely even see his enormous team doing anything but shuffling papers and moving frames. If the criticism is soft and the character study unclear, what is left but thematically linked home movies?

With all of that said, this is a must see for fans of street art and the elusive Banksy. The brief footage of artists, like Swoon or Sweet Tooth, is fascinating. The film captures the essence of their styles and methods in quick flashes of artistic process. It is thrilling to watch Guetta and the artists scale buildings to plaster their latest works in the public space. For those less familiar with street art, the film at least offers an introduction to many of the major players in the scene. Exit Through the Gift Shop may not soar as a documentary, but at the very least it demystifies a gray area of the art world.