Exit through the Gift Shop (2010)

This is a film documenting the rocketting success of artist Thierry Guetta, otherwise known as Mr. Brainwash. I come away from this film with conflicted feelings. I don't relish seeing the art business as a joke, and this is, in very large part, how the film portrays it. At the same time, I think that art and market are connected as an expression of a third, larger, cultural phenomenon. Mr. Brainwash is successful, which means that, at some level, his work speaks to people. The fact that I don't care for most of the art should be irrelevant to an evaluation of its historical place. The fact remains, however, that this film leaves a bad taste in my mouth and a heightened personal conviction that art and the art business -- should not be this way.