Exit Through the Giftshop

[The Douche]

So I just watched this. Did it go over my head or something? I am often not very good at picking up on satire in art/film, so maybe.

I felt like Thierry was a fucking douchebag, like he just tried so hard to be hip and cool, but he was just odd. And then he just bites off other people's style, doesn't do any art himself, hires people to do it for him, and promotes the shit out of it, pressures other artists to endorse him (which it seems like they only do out of friendship, not a real respect for his art).

And then he flips the art (which I hesitate to call his since he didn't make it) for a shit load of money. He's not a street artist, he just is friends with street artists and has enough money to pay people to make art which he puts his name on.


Am I missing something here? What was I supposed to walk away from that movie feeling?

[the last donut of the night]

i thought it was gonna be about banksy but halfway through it just changed to thierry, who is an asshole

[Fulanito de Tal]

Once you see the whole movie, Banksy's introduction of the movie makes much more sense. He says something similar to, "Initially, the movie was supposed be about me, but Thierry ended up being much more interesting."

[Magón]

I saw this movie. It wasn't bad, buy I agree, Thierry was a douche bag. I think you were supposed to come out of the movie, seeing how Thierry really wasn't anything more than a name, and a guy who wanted to be like those he'd spent so much time with, but in the end, ended up being just a guy who wanted to make bank and bit off too much too fast.

I can't remember if it was Banksy or Shepard Fairey, but one of them said that he had basically bitten off to much, since unlike them that had come up under the right way of it, which was small time, simple things, Thierry came up right as they had already done. (A big show, etc.) He'd basically broken the "rules" as Banksy said.

[Raúl Duke]

So I just watched this. Did it go over my head or something? I am often not very good at picking up on satire in art/film, so maybe.




Am I missing something here? What was I supposed to walk away from that movie feeling?

Besides being a somewhat documentary about Banksy and/or street art, it was a partial satire on certain aspect of the so-called "art scene" itself.

Thierry is the "joke" (or the source of the joke, the joke is made in expense of the commercialization of art/the commercial art scene) in that he himself becomes "famous" and/or sells despite the fact that it's all made by others and most of his work is derivative and boring.

It's supposed to be thought-provoking in the sense that it leads one to question the nature of art in this (capitalist) society. Obviously, Banksy himself makes money off his works but usually his attitude towards the whole thing is one of...criticism. If I recall correctly, one Banksy piece that went into auction included the words "I can't believe you're actually buying this" or something to that affect and voila it did sell for thousands/etc.

Thierry reminds me of Britto, the Miami artist, in that he also has a workshop staffed by other people who make the art and basically is a repetitive/boring/"banal" artist.