"Exit Through The Gift Shop"

Thierry Guetta is the outsider among outsider artist. In this documentary we are given a peep hole into the world of street art. What I once bundled together as graffiti has now been burst wide-open and the levels of Street Art were relieved. The documentary began with Thierry Guetta following his cousin Spaceinvader through the streets of Paris tagging buildings, sidewalks, and bridges with mosaic tile work and his famous stick figure character. The movie later goes into depth in the works of L.A. artist Shepard Fairey and English artist Banksy. Banksy was by far my favorite artist and his show Barely Legal looked like the experience of a life time. Graffiti, stencils, stickers and installation were his weapons of choice to decorate building tops and street corners. In the beginning I thought the documentary would be of Thierry Guetta following Banksy on nightly missions in L.A. but I was wrong. Instead the Street Art of Thierry himself was the topic of interest. Toward the end of the movie Banksy made the comment that most refine their techniques over the years but Thierry skipped all that and went straight for the gallery show. In other words Thierry was a sell out in it for the money. And in my eyes Thierry is the ultimate outsider in outsider art.