Fresh off the awesome Exit Through the Gift Shop, which I finally got around to last night, I've got street art on the brain.
First, let me just expound, briefly, on the sweetness of this movie. It was totally sweet. And this comes from someone who is tired of hearing about Shepard Fairey and hopes the AP takes him down for lying about which Obama image he culture jammed. So, when I saw Fairey come on the screen, I let out a tiny groan. But it was cool, because he turned out to be less of a tool than I thought, but not rad enough to change my mind about the guy. The flick mostly revolves around Mr. Brainwash, who is clearly, at least in some aspect, made up. Anyway, read Devin D. O'Leary's review of the movie if you want more.
I wasn't even going to bring Exit up until I saw these fantastic murals that are coving Bangalore, India. From the Telegraph, "authorities say they plan to extend the scheme to cover virtually every city wall." They're sick of graffiti and are doing something about it. Check out the elephant on roller skates, he's my favorite.
So, the point is: Street art kicks-ass, if it's art and not just some nickname you made up for yourself. If you're sporting a spray can, do something beautiful, please.
Oh, and if anyone knows who did those killer rainbows downtown, tell them I'm looking for them. It's all on the down low, of course.
I dunno, I think the Banksy and Faery flick was yet another self-promoting, holier-than-thou piece of propaganda aimed at driving up the price of their work, and sucker punching fans by mythologizing an era where they erupted (the art school graduates takeover), without ever giving props to their inspirations and contemporaries who paved the way.
Exit = "Let's make fun of the copy cat who likes our work and emulates us." Yawn.
Gimme Wild Style or Style Wars any day over that kind of pretense.
