Few thoughts after 2nd viewing

Some interesting points, donut.





Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

Some of his work was as good or better than Warhol. I don't get everyone saying it's all crap. And crap sells. If yo only want to sell, it doesn't matter if it's junk. People will come see what is advertised and hyped a lot in the media even if it's garbage. A bum smearing excrement and urinating on canvases / dripping blood on it would be hailed as high art by pompous bourgeois art critics. Nobody would dare say the emperor has no clothes.

thanks for actually talking what the movie is about. I don't understand where people are getting this Banksy prank bullshít from, and nobody seems to be talking about the actual movie. sad, because the movie is pretty straightforward and you summarized it well.

not sure about "he shows modern art is completely meaningless" though, it's just MBW's art that is completely meaningless ;) the movie made sure to point out the difference to the other street artists, right? being the sales guy that he is, he personifies the commercialization. I think there is a Mr. Brainwashed for literally everything. Music, literature, movies, but not just art, also technologies, sciences, even religions. When something is a small niche and you can't make a lot of money with it, the people who are doing the thing are people who really love it, and they have an ethos about it (nerds with early computers, musicians with underground music, scientists, film makers). but then there always seems to be the point where it gets big enough to attract business men, and they just use it to make money. they don't care about the ethos of the early pioneers. that's their advantage. they copy & steal & mass produce, they are much better at doing business. and they change the game completely because they are ruthless & financially so much stronger.

I agree with everything, except that the long established artists were jealous. It looked more like frustration to me.

It's important to understand that artists like Banksy use the platform of art to challenge the way we view the world. Look at anything Banksy has produced, and you'll find multiple layers of meaning woven into each of his works.

Now look at Mister Brainwash's art. It's all style and no substance. It doesn't say anything about anything. MBW's art merely parrots artistic styles, sometimes to the point of plagiarism.

Some might still count MBW's "works" as art, but it's art at its most shallow. The fact that he became celebrated and made millions, illustrates how massive a gulf there is between real artists, and the misguided community that celebrates art.

Going back to the original point, Banksy is clearly frustrated that meaningful art can so easily be sidelined by shallow tripe that says nothing. There's a case to be made that art to many has become nothing more than a form of stock/currency for shallow capitalists to speculate on. They know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.