YOU TUBE part.2 - Art versus Noise + EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP

Continued on from the last entry where the question became whether or not YOU TUBE could produce a star worthy of becoming a Hollywood director and we have a pseudo example in the form of Thierry Guetta. This self procalimed video artist goes everywhere with his video camera and proceeds to get caught up in the street art movement wherein Banksy and Shepherd Fairy become his subjects and subsequently his inspirations as he proceeds to test his ability within their medium of choice.

This is the basic setup or plot of the film setup if you believe the whole thing isn't just another elaborate stunt by mischievous raconteur of subversion, Banksy. And it is plot if you take a more cynical approach to the elaborate and startling journey of Thierry and his graffiti mentor from Bristol. As mentioned in the previous entry (see below) the pehnomenon of YOU TUBE and what it encourages can be gauged in different ways. I treid to suggest that the evolution of production of quality art and fiction is emboldened by a medium (which is what YOUTUBE has become essentially) which allows anyone to upload their work or art. Within this the art of pastiche and parody has reached a critical mass as we see both brilliant attempts to compliment and subvert existing mythologies as well as humour and attract those who would formerly not take an interest due to the short clip like nature of the stuff on show. It thus becomes easier to digest and like fast food is an attractive, non time consuming way to indulge previously rejected forms or art. This penetrtation i think is the strongest aspect of what YOUTUBE provides but as with all social media that is open to and enjoyed by all it has a flip side.

With all the brilliance there is an endless dirge of what i will refer to as junk or 'noise'. That doesn't really forward the medium and fits the analogy of a dog eating its own tale, a cannibalisation of the freedom given to create something great and meaningful becomes a vehicle for base desires and pointless regurgitation. But who am i to say what constitues art and noise. Indeed who is ever qualified to make this judgement? This is the challenge raised in EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, whether it is an elaborate and staged attempt to address this issue or truth, the films argument is compelling regardless.

With Bansky you have an endlessly creative and gifted artist whose installations and stencils represent a brazen form of social media that takes shape in his street art. His works are distinctive and bold in their attempt to challenge normalist thought, political and confronting but educational in their conveyance of meaning and challenge to the shroud of shit fed to us by advertising and the establishment. His message is that anyone can create art and the judgement should be left to the audience, but then after experiencing his friend Thierry transform into Mr.Brainwash says paradoxically and forebodingly "I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/)

He reaches the nexus point where he maybe realises that he has created this monster without ever knowing what manner of 'artist' sat perched under his wing. If you haven't seen the film SPOILERS are coming.

Mr Brainwash has no capacity for original thought, well at least his work/street art doesn't. Like a transparent photocopy of Andy Warhol he is gifted only in taking what others do or create and coluroing over it, inking someone elses creation into oblivion and passing it off as commentary or homage. Hollow and disapointing it is shocking within the construct of the film as he is heralded by an art world who fall for his associations with Banksy and Shepherd Fairy and/or the latest phenomenon that is street art. A vapid world happy to champion anyone within it for the sake of trumpeting what everyone else seems to be caught up in, without judging it alongside greater, more poignant forms.

There is a story that George Lucas when preparing to write and film his now infamous STAR WARS prequels that he went to Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola and said yeah i think i should bring people in to help me bring these new films forth. Spielberg and Coppola replied with 'No' going on to say, and im paraphrasing, this is your chance to give the world George Lucas unfiltered, pure if you will, you will never have more control than you do right now embrace it and give the world the STAR WARS that's inside you'. Well we all saw how that worked out.




















To some degree you can never tell someone what is good and bad, art or noise because it comes from a persoanl and subversive place of taste and cultural understanding. YOU TUBE has that filter built in somehwhat as people vote and view, subscibe to favorite producers etc. But the negaive space of that equation still frightens me somewhat. Should maybe do an entry on IDIOCRACY next ....

NEXT: Final Reflections