exit through the gift shop

This weekend I headed up to SC to deliver a piece to my friend Miranda. While I was there I took the opportunity to go see the new film Exit Through the Gift Shop with Miranda and her boyfriend Zane. When we arrived in the theatre we were (not surprisingly) alone aside from two blue haired ladies and an old man. Zane and I immediately started making bets on how soon into the documentary they would leave, I guessed 30 minutes under the opinion that they thought it was some kind of historical deal about a real gift shop. However, our cynicism melted away as our three fellow movie goers roared with laughter at the exact same times we did. Shame on us for believing age would inhibit taste. In fact, recovering from remorse over not speaking to them before we left, I suggested they might have been us from the future--reassuring us that age doesn't dilute art sense.

Now, about the film.


I almost immediately speculated that this was a mockumentary. The story was riveting enough, but something about it just didn't ring true with me. The title alone suggests a critique on the commercial art world. And while I realize that would be a lot of forward thinking and work to pull off, I can't help not believing it fully. But that aside, I found the film wildly entertaining. I smacked my face as a museum visitor quipped "what do you think of that American Gothic?" to the reply of "it's very gothic," and snickered at Banksy's numerous quips about Thierry's (aka Mr. Brainwash's) borrowed art styles.

It was also nice to see some other street artists besides the mega popular Banksy and Shepard Fairey at least briefly featured (like NeckFace, a personal favorite).


Anyway, get yer butts out to the film, yeah 10 dollars is a bloated amount (and especially when the film you're viewing is from a guy that denounces the commercialism of art, but that's a whole other can of worms), but it's worth it.