So, I just watched Exit Through the Gift Shop. Its main subject (street art) really captured my interest so I ended up just watching the entire documentary. I won’t ruin the ending or anything but, basically, it’s about this French guy, Thierry Guetta, living in Los Angeles who has this obsession of carrying a video camera at all times in order to film everything that he comes across. He ends up meeting a handful of famous street artists, films them doing their respective styles of street art, and develops his own interest in street art during the process. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary because I knew very little about street artists to begin with. I learned a lot, spent a good 15-20 minutes just observing random street art pictures on google, and even read about some of the featured street artists from the documentary. It’s really fun to observe and analyze, but I’m still not convinced that street art is right. I guess stickers are admissible since they can, to some extent, be removed from surfaces but painting on an object that does not belong to you seems wrong to me. If a person purchases a building, transforms it into a grocery store or something, and then some street artist stumbles along and paints a “pink hippo wearing an ushanka and sunglasses” on one of the walls, I don’t think that’s really fair to the person who purchased the building. Yeah, it can always be painted over and erased but that still requires time, effort, and money that should have never been spent in the first place. I understand the street artist’s need and desire to express themselves but, seriously, would you want some stranger to paint their inside feelings on a valuable object of yours?
If it looked cool I would love that..I think street art is so amazing and interesting to look at. Yeah its not too cool to put it on someones building but thats the excitement of it. Definitely a good documentary to watch. The ending was my favorite when the wall fell because clearly Thierry's life was not so beautiful
ReplyDeleteHey Nicole! I guess it depends on what sort of building we’re talking about. I think that buildings, such as comic book stores, probably wouldn’t care too much about having street art on their walls. However, I think that buildings, such as law firms, would strongly oppose having street art on their walls since law firms want to maintain a sense of seriousness in order to attract clients. Personally, I find street art fascinating but I also understand the value that some buildings mean to their owners and I think it’s important to protect that. And I totally agree with you about the documentary! It was wonderful! I had never really sat down before and watched actual street artists in action so it was really fun for me. I liked Thierry in the beginning but I began to dislike him more and more as the documentary progressed. He should’ve stuck with his true passion (filming his surroundings) than becoming a street artist who attempts to emulate others like Banksy. Hey, I’m just curious but what is the difference between graffiti and street art in your opinion?
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