One of my favorite documentaries is without question Banksy's "Exit Through the Giftshop."
While I don't have many fond things to say about my education at FIT - getting a private screening of this little slice of genius with some of the producers present was a highlight of my fashion-filled days.
The film, which stars Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists, follows a Frenchie named Thierry Guetta who after following around and filming street artists creating their work in the hopes of making a documentary, decides he would like to become an artist himself. He adopts the moniker "MBW" or "Mr. Brainwash." Upon Banksy's suggestion, he starts creating art of his own and somehow to everyone's surprise becomes an overnight sensation with his first solo exhibition in LA "Life is Beautiful."
The best part of this whole thing is that Thierry is quite literally mad. Banksy admits at one point "he is actually a lot more interesting than I am."
When I saw that MBW had his first solo exhibition in the UK at an old warehouse in Holborn this week, I was so there.
I find him fascinating, in a crazy and insane sort of way. And while the art I saw him (slash his helpers) creating in the documentary seemed meaningless and mass produced, and while in reality some of it was - I found myself wandering around this enormous warehouse grinning at everything in sight. Maybe his name is more appropriate than I previously realized....
Perhaps I'd been brainwashed, but I found the exhibition and works within it clever, funny, interesting, and uplifting.
Nearly everything had some sort of positive message.
"Life is Beautiful"
"Never Ever Never Ever Give Up"
"Love is the Answer."
"Follow Your Dreams"
The exit, was indeed through the giftshop. But the giftshop was free.
Everyone leaving could choose 1 free poster and 1 free postcard. Naturally, I chose this one....
While I don't have many fond things to say about my education at FIT - getting a private screening of this little slice of genius with some of the producers present was a highlight of my fashion-filled days.
The film, which stars Banksy, Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists, follows a Frenchie named Thierry Guetta who after following around and filming street artists creating their work in the hopes of making a documentary, decides he would like to become an artist himself. He adopts the moniker "MBW" or "Mr. Brainwash." Upon Banksy's suggestion, he starts creating art of his own and somehow to everyone's surprise becomes an overnight sensation with his first solo exhibition in LA "Life is Beautiful."
The best part of this whole thing is that Thierry is quite literally mad. Banksy admits at one point "he is actually a lot more interesting than I am."
When I saw that MBW had his first solo exhibition in the UK at an old warehouse in Holborn this week, I was so there.
I find him fascinating, in a crazy and insane sort of way. And while the art I saw him (slash his helpers) creating in the documentary seemed meaningless and mass produced, and while in reality some of it was - I found myself wandering around this enormous warehouse grinning at everything in sight. Maybe his name is more appropriate than I previously realized....
Perhaps I'd been brainwashed, but I found the exhibition and works within it clever, funny, interesting, and uplifting.
"Life is Beautiful"
"Never Ever Never Ever Give Up"
"Love is the Answer."
"Follow Your Dreams"
The exit, was indeed through the giftshop. But the giftshop was free.
Everyone leaving could choose 1 free poster and 1 free postcard. Naturally, I chose this one....
If only the Queen would wear aviators, she could be almost as cool as Prince Harry.
I will be moving into a new apartment soon, so I was thrilled to get this free piece of artwork for my future English-inspired pad in New York. I think it will be nice tribute to my time here, and since I am suddenly a bit melancholy about my soon departure from the UK, I plan on doing a very funky-Kit-Kemp inspired English decor to bring a little of this place back with me. I would have never guessed back in January, when I was cursing myself for moving here and crying my eyes out on a daily basis - that by the time September started a part of me would be wishing I could stay.
Feelings sneak up on you I guess, and when you least expect it everything changes.
I spent this past weekend in New York and while I was walking around, I realized how many things had changed in the year I've been gone. Restaurants that closed, others that opened, buildings gone up, scaffolding taken down, people who left, people who came...
This whole year I've been anxious to get back to New York so my life could go back to the way it was before I left. Back to my old routine, my old hangouts, my old office, my old neighborhood . But I realized that instead, it's going to be a fresh start. I may come home to find that what I left may not be there anymore, but there's new things waiting. And that is pretty exciting.
So the countdown begins.
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