Banksy and Mr. Brainwash Art Philosophy
Banksy’s journey into filmmaking started off clumsily and abruptly, yet it ended up becoming a critical and commercial triumph. He had hoped that an eccentric man with a video camera would make a ground-breaking documentary on the rising street art scene, but instead learned that the documentary’s subject should be this man, Mr. Brainwash.
Mr. Brainwash origin
Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary film about Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant who moves to Los Angeles and develops a fixation with carrying a camera and shooting everything he sees and keeping his tapes with no intention of ever editing or watching them. The film reveals that Thierry lost his mother when he was 11 years old, leaving him with a profound sense of grief as a child. It also explains that Thierry feels compelled to carry a camera and record everything because recording every event of his life on film gives him a sense of preserving the transitory moments in life.
Thierry’s foray into the realm of street painting begins when he discovers during a vacation to France that his cousin, Space Invader, is a well-known street artist. Mr Brainwash art for sale is available on platforms like bidsquare. The moniker “Space Invader” comes from the fact that he decorates French streets with mosaics of characters from the famous video game “Space Invaders.” Due to the risk of being caught by authorities, Thierry learns the excitement of recording his cousin and his pals at work. When Thierry visits Los Angeles, Space Invader introduces him to the local street art movement, allowing him to meet Banksy on the spur of the moment and form a friendship with him. Thierry is even allowed to film Banksy on the condition that Thierry only films his hands.
Thierry persuades the street artists of Los Angeles, including Banksy, which he is a serious film maker worthy of documenting them as they install their art, thanks to his eccentricity and passion to film. Mr. Brainwash prints are favourite of all the collectors. They hope he will create the first documentary documenting the evolution of street art as it enters the mainstream, preserving a transitory form of art.
On Banksy’s request, Thierry edits the film and sends it to him in its final form. When Banksy realises Thierry isn’t a filmmaker, he expresses his concern that he might be insane. Rather than telling Thierry his film is bad, he advises him to put down the camera and pursue street art instead. What Banksy doesn’t anticipate is that Thierry will follow his advise to the extreme and recast himself as a serious artist under the moniker Mr. Brainwash in a very short amount of time.
Mr. Brainwash creates his own distinctive stencilled image of himself and a camera, which he plasters over Los Angeles. He also takes out a loan against his company to devote time and money to establishing his own studio, where he will work with a team of painters to create artwork that combines pop art with street art, with the ultimate goal of creating a world-famous show. This financial risk puts his wife under a lot of strain, as she must care for their two children while her husband chases his new artistic goal.
He convinces the art world that he is the latest sensation to hit the street art scene, and has a spectacularly successful exhibition, Life Is Beautiful, as a result of using techniques and skills he learned while filming and assisting street artists, as well as his intuitive grasp of marketing to promote his show.
His Los Angeles exhibition nets him $1 million, and he persuades Madonna to engage him to design the cover for her 2009 album Celebration. His show becomes a sociological phenomenon, leading more experienced street artists to wonder how a relatively simple individual could persuade a supposedly sophisticated public that he possesses amazing artistic aptitude and insight, while he is viewed by them as a clumsy, if obsessed, newbie. Recognizing that the Mr. Brainwash phenomena is more intriguing than himself, Banksy claims he decided to use the footage gathered by Thierry to create a documentary about his transformation into Mr. Brainwash, which served as the basis for his debut film.
Mr. Brainwash Art Philosophy
While both Banksy and Mr. Brainwash have lives that connect with their love of street art, their marketing strategies and artistic philosophy are diametrically opposed. Banksy’s art has a strong anti-commercial message, and his reluctance to collaborate with major firms whose business practises he views unethical has given him considerable artistic and political prominence. Banksy’s politics are closely linked to his work, and his art would be devoid of its essential vitality if he didn’t have such a deep sensitivity to the concepts of justice, love, and peace. Mr. Brainwash, on the other hand, lives up to his name and successfully brainwashes the artistic literati into believing he is trustworthy by projecting a believable aura.
