Review of Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) by Melkorka L — 14 Jun 2013

A documentary of many fascinating layers, broadly revolving around the late 90s - early 00s street art scene. It begins a fairly standard look at a few of the key players of street art including Shepard Fairey and Space Invader, with the slightly odd addition of a manic little Frenchman, Thierry Guetta, obsessed with filming who begins to tag along.

He earns the trust of Banksy after an escapade at Disneyland and is encouraged to create a film out of his thousands of hours of film. The film turns out to be garbage, and Banksy apparently encouraged Guetta to return to LA and continue his own street art.

Guetta takes this to heart and begins a huge creative tour de force, churning out derivative copies of all the street artists he's tagged along with but amazingly his self-financed exhibition is a huge success and he enters street art royalty with barely any paying of dues.

The layers are indeed fascinating, starting with the psychology of Guetta himself and his camera fixation and idol worship. Then there's the notoriously secretive Banksy's unusual trust in Guetta, and then baffled regret at encouraging him to create, leading to huge success.

There are questions of what qualifies art, and are Guetta's slightly naive facsimiles any less valid than Banksy's work if they are so readily accepted by the public. Or is it a huge example of hype creating a demand for anything.

Is it all some sly elaborate Banksy stunt? Whatever it is, it's immensely entertaining!