Lex Miller

LBST 1105 H
Ms. Julie Hicks
October 17th, 2014

Exit Through The Gift Shop Response

We recently watched a documentary entitled, Exit Through The Gift Shop. The
documentary was originally filmed by a Tierry Guetta, whom followed a number of street
artists in different parts of England and the US. However, as the film went on, Tierry
went from behind the camera to in front of it when he decided to become a street artist
himself.
I believe that street art is art. I believe anything that invokes a message or
emotions into any number of viewers is art. These street artists began to make art in the
street because the art they produced was meaningful to them and had a purpose. Street art
according to Tierry Guetta is, being able to express yourself so others and the world can
see things you love. I found this quote extremely powerful because I believe all art
should be produced for this reason. I myself was amazed at how little I knew about street
art. Street art in fact is not graffiti but a hybrid form of graffiti that uses stickers, stencils,
posters, and sculptures. I had always assumed graffiti and street art were synonymous.
Also, I learned that Tierrys cousin in fact invented street art with his Space Invaders
stickers he created, becoming famous with the name Invader. The documentary stated
how street art was the biggest counterculture movement since punk. I found this very
important because counterculture means that a group disagrees with the way society
appreciates/values/handles going about something. None of these artists created street art
to be disrespectful and vandalize buildings. They had powerful ideas they wanted to
creatively shout to the world. To show just how much of a counterculture movement this
was, Banksys art gallery Barely Legal shows how street art addresses controversies
such as war, politics, and how we define beauty. This is why I believe that street art is art.
Also, I think it should be valued and appreciated for the short lifespan that street art has.
No one can ever get bored with it, recreate it, or document it for centuries. Another
powerful quote that stood out to me in the documentary was when Tierry said, They
[viewers of street art] believed in it and they loved it,; I found this quote vital because
art is successful when it not only impacts the life of the artist, but impacts the lives of its
viewers as well.
There were parts of me that wanted to think that Mr. Brainwash was an artist, but
as time went on, I didnt see him as an artist at all. I thought it was beautiful how
intrigued and in awe Thierry was of everyone he followed and street art in general. I
believe he began his own art collection with the best of intentions but got caught up in the
fame and attention. Instead of creating what he wanted because he felt it and it spoke to
him, he re-created pieces of what he knew would sell and what would get attention. He
wasnt making art for himself, he was making art with the intentions to get attention and
please others. He also rushed his art and galleries so he could get famous and catch up

to the skill level and attention of the other street artists. None of his pieces were original
to him, he always copied techniques that worked for other artists and created multiple
copies until what he had created had no value anymore. He didnt put emotion or
personality into any of his own pieces. In a way, he was a parasite and a moocher of other
artists. Because of how he had copied pieces and only slightly changed them from the
way the original artist had it, he was killing the value of the original piece and n turn
hurting the artists from which he stole ideas. Inspiration is one thing, but taking a piece
and only slightly altering it is fraud. One could even tell he enjoyed the spotlight by the
way he spoke about himself in the last ten minutes of the documentary. I was appalled at
how he in fact had little to do with his own gallery opening because so many other people
were doing his work for him and not only setting up the gallery but in many cases, his
workers were creating his art.
The fact that art is sold as a commodity at market prices shows a lot about our
culture. As mentioned in the documentary by a street artist, people in our nation value art,
but we do not value artists. He goes on to explain how we love and want to buy art, but
we expect it to be cheap with absolutely no regard to how it needs to be expensive so an
artist can survive and maybe create more. I believe that we value art but not in the way
we should. I believe we truly value it because in our society we have a fear of missing out
and we want what is popular. If a work of art gains fame, people will buy it, even if its a
plain blue canvas. We do not take the time to appreciate the way it is created, why it was
created, and what message it is trying to convey to its viewers.
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary and found it rather eye opening. I am very
intrigued by modern and pop art culture and it furthered my fascination that art has the
ability to be created from a few simple, everyday items. One of the main reasons I am so
fascinated with pop art is because of the plethora of bright and vibrant colors used, which
many street artists include. I loved Bansky in particular because he held art in wide open,
high traffic areas for everyone to see and his art is often displaying American
controversies. By his work being held in such populated areas, it gets people thinking
about the topic and questioning it. I very much appreciated this documentary and
everything I learned from it about street art and peoples reactions to it. I hope more
people consider street art as a form of art instead of as cluttered graffiti.