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Banksy

It's a Disaster. It's Art.

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Speaking of Banksy, the artist made his directorial debut last Friday with the release of the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop.

From "Banksy versus Bristol Museum," a free exhibition last year
at the Bristol Museum in England. For the show, Banksy interspersed
his own work throughout the institution's collection.

Billed as "the world's first Street Art disaster movie," the film has its roots in over a thousand hours of footage of street artists doing their thing, captured by a French filmmaker who then turned his raw material (and camera) over to Banksy. The completed documentary has its Seattle premiere tomorrow night (April 23), at the Harvard Exit.

From New York magazine's review:

Banksy decided to “have a go” at more than a thousand hours of video shot by an obsessive Frenchman named Thierry Guetta—unprecedented footage of guerrilla street artists at their clandestine labors, among them Shepard Fairey, Invader, and Banksy himself—after Guetta’s own assemblage turned out like the work of “someone with mental problems … an unimaginable nightmare.” To get the unemployed, sad-sack Guetta out of his hair, Banksy gave him a metaphorical pat on the head and told him to go back home to Los Angeles and try making his own art. This leads to the documentary’s final section, in which Guetta, having adopted the ridiculous nom de plume “Mr. Brainwash,” attempts to conquer L.A. with an immense exhibition. So the film’s original director has become its subject, and its prize subject its director. Narrated by Rhys Ifans with the dryness of a dessicated toad, Exit Through the Gift Shop is both an exhilarating testament to serendipity and an appalling testament to art-world inanity.

More info and an extended 5-minute sneak peek of the film at banksyfilm.com (and more Banksy at his website).

Image of the Day

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I think this is Banksy... up in Williamsburg, on the side of Roebling Tea Room.

And the bad guys. Fifth Ave in Park Slope

Saturday Looks Good to Me

Littlejeans had his own agenda this weekend. We left him to it and walked across the Manhattan Bridge into the city...

...through Little Italy on our way to the Storefront for Art & Architecture on Kenmare Street.

(Stills from the current show, On Mock-ups, Home Videos and Housekeeping: a video exhibition in 3 parts.)

We had brunch around the corner at Mexican Radio.

Afterward we walked up through Nolita to the East Village. Resurrection is one of the older vintage clothing stores around the city (there's one in LA too). They get really amazing pieces and the prices are kind of insane, but it's fun to see what they put in the windows.

Puch bike no.1 (Mott Street)

I still haven't been to the New Musem. We tried to go once but it was way too crowded.

We stopped by Rivington Arms to see the BARR show. More on that in a future post.

Puch bike no.2 (East 2nd Street)

Tokio7 is a more affordable vintage/consignment store on 7th Street in the East Village. Always worth a look but didn't find anything this time.

We stopped for a beer across the street at the Blue & Gold before heading down to Ludlow Street to meet up with my brother Sky and his friend Juliane at Motor City.

Julie Black was presiding over the bar and took great care of us. Do not miss her band Tall Black Girls at Lit on Saturday May 3rd, 10-11pm.

Motor City is a Detroit-themed bar. That sounds like it could be too kitschy or something but it's actually great—in fact, it's one of the few bars on the LES that I still really like. Even when it gets crowded it tends to be filled with quality individuals. But don't mess with Jenna:

Juliane, Sky, and Emily.