Exit Through The Gift Shop Essay

Michael Hsu

4/20/11

Media Literacy           

Exit Through the Gift Shop

            The film Exit Through The Gift Shop is a documentary that explores the world of a particular art culture that literally took the streets by storm. The documentary begins with a man named Terry Guetta who owns a local clothing store in Los Angeles, and has this unusual obsession with videotaping. This obsession of recording everything occurring in his life began after he started his family as a result of his missing childhood. What began as a hobby soon turned into Terry’s fantasy; leading him miles away from his family to embark on a journey that would forever change his life.

            Terry began to explore the world of street art, a cultural phenomenon where artists etched their mark on streets of major cities all over the world. Terry began to film every minute of his exploration while meeting many of the prominent street artists along the way. His journey first began by meeting the artist space invader who led him into the “hidden” culture of art graffiti. Terry became fascinated by the excitement and rush of this new trend, and soon began to put his camera to use. He began to document the works of all the street artists he met along the way including Sheppard Fairy as well as the infamous Banksy.

            Terry’s adventure took a dramatic turn when he first met Banksy, otherwise known as the most highly profiled street artist in the game. Banksy was a man of anonymity who usually kept his personal and street art life a secret from the public eye. Against his usual judgment, Banksy allowed Terry to follow and document his highly regarded work. The purpose was to create a street art documentary that would open the world to this new and exciting art culture. When the film was finally ready to be produced, Banksy took the reins of the project as a result of Terry’s amateur film production skills. Half joking, he encouraged Terry to embark on a new journey of street art while Banksy was busy creating the documentary. Little did he know, Terry took his advice to heart and began to create his own alias, calling himself Mr. Brainwash. This character took the streets of Los Angeles by storm, and Terry began to put together his own art exhibition around Mr. Brainwash. The exhibition blew up in popularity because of Terry’s connections and Mr. Brainwash began to pull in nearly $30,000 per piece of artwork. 

            Many street artists found Terry’s artwork to be a fraud because it lacked originality, and could be considered a mix of various ideas. Many thought he simply took bits and pieces of art styles along the way and created a work that lacked personal innovation. Even Terry’s close friends such as Sheppard Fairy and Bansky were not thrilled at the explosion in Mr. Brainwash’s popularity. There is an overarching meaning that comes from this documentary, and Terry’s adventure illustrates a lot of that. Art is something that should come from the heart and there should be a personal connection between an artist and his/her work. In Terry’s situation, many thought he only cared about the money and fame, whereas his works took a backseat. Many of the times, he was not focused on his work or his exhibit allowing his employees to simply put them in any order for the exhibition. Many of the times his art really didn’t have any deeper meaning or message to send to society making him very different from all the street artists.

            When you compare and contrast Terry’s work to that of Sheppard Fairy or Banksy, you can clearly see the difference. Sheppard Fairy and Banksy created their own styles that were original and most of all important to them. It was a change in culture where these artists wanted to send the people a message by putting up their work in the streets. On top of that, these artists created works from their own imagination and it was something that came from the heart. In Terry’s case, a lot of his work was simply a knockoff of other artists and he did not necessarily have a deep connection to those pieces. 

            Many of Terry’s acquaintances that he met along the way were very unhappy with him such as Space Invader who no longer keeps in contact with Terry. Many of those artists were unhappy because street art was supposed to be about something much more than just fame and money. These artists feel like they were undermined, and it was as if Terry had taken the shortcut to success and damaging the art culture.

            In conclusion, this turned out to be a very interesting documentary that had many overarching meanings to it. The film really opened the world to not only street art, but also the culture that these artists bring to the world. Many of these artists spill their souls into their artwork hoping to change the world in different ways. It was definitely more than a documentary just on street art, but shows the world the culture that comes with it.