A shout-out and thanks to Emily for the link to the Banksy film
schedule at the Gene Siskel Theater. I went and saw it this evening.It is on a limited run so if you haven't yet seen it, it is highly recommended that you do.
As it was playing, Professor Yood's famous mantra "Systems of Reception Wherein Distinction is Conferred" kept running through my head. Here is this guy, Thierry Guetta, attempting to document through film, the lives and work of all the Street Art artists from LA to France and England and suddenly he gets the tacit nod from Banksy himself to go and produce his own body of work both on the walls of LA and as a gallery production. "It was like I had been given an order", Thierry reverently says. And what a production it is! He manages to get blurbs from Shepard Fairy and Banksy himself, and runs away with the promotion to the media like I have never seen done before. The caveat,though, is that this is a case where peer group approval has some how gone horribly awry.
schedule at the Gene Siskel Theater. I went and saw it this evening.It is on a limited run so if you haven't yet seen it, it is highly recommended that you do.
As it was playing, Professor Yood's famous mantra "Systems of Reception Wherein Distinction is Conferred" kept running through my head. Here is this guy, Thierry Guetta, attempting to document through film, the lives and work of all the Street Art artists from LA to France and England and suddenly he gets the tacit nod from Banksy himself to go and produce his own body of work both on the walls of LA and as a gallery production. "It was like I had been given an order", Thierry reverently says. And what a production it is! He manages to get blurbs from Shepard Fairy and Banksy himself, and runs away with the promotion to the media like I have never seen done before. The caveat,though, is that this is a case where peer group approval has some how gone horribly awry.
The often comedic and bumbling antics of this John Belushi doppelganger display a telling insight to the twisted world of pricing in the Art World when he simply pulls numbers, Big Numbers, out of his head when putting price tags on original prints destined for his gargantuan debut show. Is this a sign that the long established facade of the Gallery System is developing cracks that media savvy artists are able to exploit?
There are, however, some glaring questions. How does a vintage clothing shop owner, who has been called a "retard" by his own production manager, get the use of the deserted former headquarters building of Sony Records for his gallery debut? Was Banksy really out of the loop during the production of this event? And how did this endeavor even get off the ground without disintegrating on the runway?
In the end Banksy still remains anonymous and although he apparently has some of his thunder in the world of Street Art stolen by his trusted videographer, he regains his composure by doing the only thing he can.
He makes an excellent film.
There are, however, some glaring questions. How does a vintage clothing shop owner, who has been called a "retard" by his own production manager, get the use of the deserted former headquarters building of Sony Records for his gallery debut? Was Banksy really out of the loop during the production of this event? And how did this endeavor even get off the ground without disintegrating on the runway?
In the end Banksy still remains anonymous and although he apparently has some of his thunder in the world of Street Art stolen by his trusted videographer, he regains his composure by doing the only thing he can.
He makes an excellent film.
No comments:
Post a Comment