When the camera met the graffiti

"Exit through the Gift Shop" It's a documentary from 2010... And I just watched it for the first time last weekend... Yes, I know as an audiovisual producer I should be more into the trend, oh well.

First thing, this post is not intended as a critic, just my personal impressions on this doc.

The first feature film directed by street-art legend Banksy. Must say it was sort of a bitter sweet experience. The amazing amount of material is incredible, if you are a street art lover just like me, you will definitely appreciate to see on video the adventures of so my many artists, the risks, the graffiti, the statements as time passed by.

Here is the thing; I perceived this documentary like a matryoshka doll. One the first layer there is the story of Thierry, fascinated with recording and eventually street art. Also there are the experiences of several artists who Thierry filmed during a great period of time. Then the ultimate obsession, Bansky, he becomes, to Thierry, the idealistic projection of an artist, there are several interesting experiences narrated over several years as well.

And I think because the key issue here is perception about things, other people and ourselves, everything goes the other way around and the fan becomes the artist himself. Because of that we are faced with the question, what makes an artist? A great result, incredible amount of time and hard work, or is it the hype and the marketing?

Thierry, the main character of this doc, has an incredible transition from obsessed fan to million dollars’ worth value street artist overnight…  I don’t think currently he has many street artist friends anymore.

PS: Dear reader, please do forgive my english mistakes... =)