Day 1- A Street Art Class Introduction

This blog is an examination of Street Art and Artists.Swoon

So where do we begin? Today let's dive into the world of the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010). The movie focuses on Banksy and the maddening Mr. Brainwash (MBW) two characters in the ever present Street Art scene. MBW, a filmographer turned artist, becomes the focus of the film when we begin to see him as a vilification of all things "bad art". (I will be writing an off-shoot of the film, if however you have not seen the documentary and wish to the link below provides some more information, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/)

When talking about this documentary I am lead to the theory that many others before me have expressed, that Exit Through the Gift Shop is in reality another Banksy piece. The idea that MBW, the actions of the film; all of it was designed by Banksy. If this is true the film shows through characters a history of street art and the problems the movement faces tat Banksy himself has defined.

What captures the imagination when examining the film through this lens is the potential that Street Art is on the verge of a collapse. When talking about Contemporary art we are always marked with the idea of the inevitable. Will a movement fall apart? Will an offshoot become popular? Where do we evolve to next? Street Art falls under this umbrella of contemporary art and benefits from artists willing to work in a similar medium. The piece that allows street art to remain contemporary however is the forced evolution of the movement through artists individual drives on paths to uniqueness. What this documentary may be trying to warn us of is the severing of the DNA that has made street art, street art, and that is the streets themself. With the advent of street art galleries and the need for a sense of validation created by a gallery wall, artists have been taken from the streets. In addition the renaissance that photoshop at one point allowed art, creating the digital versions and alterations of famous works, editing has been overused to the point of boredom and predictability.

Exit Through the Gift Shop  is not the only horseman of this potential future. The Rare Bird Radio podcast, focusing on Street Art and Artists especially in the LA Area, hinted at the undulating wave of street arts creation. The December 2012 interview turned briefly to the idea that the MOCA show Art in the Streets 2011 has had the adverse effect of slowing down Street Art culture. Was it the prolific amount of work shown? The idea that street art could now be classified as a historical movement? The heralding of the mainstream or the pull of the galleries? Whatever the reason may be street art seems to have entered the downward curve of its current wave. If history repeats itself then we will see the movement rise up once more. But Banksy's words and works still strike the viewer. Has art become predictable and repetitive? Is there anything new?

Bibliography

The Green Contemporary, "Art In The Streets", (2011)
James Daichendt "Rare Bird Radio", (2012) http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rarebirdradio/2012/11/27/stay-up-los-angeles-street-art-podcast