Sunday 2 December 2012

Mr Brain-Wash



I'd like this to be considered part 2 of the previous post, its somewhat related.
Thierry Guetta,
another street artist
not as Mature as Banksy but is doing fine for himself,
he is HIGHLY influenced from Banksy that one can see in his work.
Mr. Brainwash, often stylized as MBW, is the moniker of Paris born, Los Angeles based filmmaker and street artist Thierry Guetta. According to the Banksy-directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta began as a proprietor of a clothing store and videographer who filmed street artists through the 2000s and evolved into an artist in his own right after an off-hand suggestion from Banksy. Guetta was first introduced to street art by his cousin, the street artist Invader.

Guetta does not typically have much physical involvement in the construction of the artwork attributed to him; he passes ideas to his creative team, mostly graphic designers who realise the finished pieces. Like his associate Banksy, Guetta employs famous artistic and historic images, many of which are copyrighted, and amends the originals in sometimes slight, sometimes significant ways. A number of critics have observed that his works strongly emulate the styles and concepts of Banksy, and have speculated that Guetta is an elaborate prank staged by Banksy who may have created the works himself. Banksy insists on his official website, however, that Exit Through the Gift Shop is authentic and that Guetta is not part of a prank.

His work sold for five-figure sums at his self-financed debut exhibit Life is Beautiful due, it is thought, to a mixture of an over heated and hyped street art market and, according to Banksy and Fairey as seen in Exit Through the Gift Shop, his misuse of endorsements from Banksy and Fairey. The exhibit was held in Los Angeles, California, on June 18, 2008 and was a popular and critical success. In 2009, Madonna paid Guetta to design the cover art for her Madonna's Celebration album.
On October 6th 2011 MBW opened his latest solo exhibition at Opera Gallery in London. The night before the opening of the show the street outside the gallery was sprayed with paint by artist RSH as a statement about the false nature of Mr Brainwash's artwork. When interrogated about this, Mr Brainwash declared that he actually really liked the street thus spray painted and that as long as he stirred reactions from the public / other artists he judged it a success. The exhibition sold out within 2 days, with one private collector buying 14 of the 36 artworks on display.













 
 
 

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