Is Mr. Brainwash's Art Really That Bad?

Art is more and more about innovation and ideas and less and less about skill and craft. Andy Warhol was new and interesting as a modernist a couple of decades ago but to rip him off today is not that interesting to phrase it carefully.

The difference between street artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey and many in the legion of followers is the originality, the idea and message behind the art. I mean, anyone can do cut-outs and spray funny cartoons around billboards in town if you want to, the question is, why would you?

Mr Brainwash is made up as a joke, a copycat in his methods and completely devoid of all message and purpose in his art, even though some people still don't seem to get the difference. If you don't get it you probably don't really understand what Banksy's street art is all about either. That is like all those clueless hipsters and art critics you could see at the art show and people like Madonna, the current queen of uncool.

With that said, I don't think Mr Brainwash art is terrible at all... as a joke or in a kitschy ironic kind of way. I would gladly put some of it on my wall as a statement of what I find is wrong with the art world today. If you put it there cause you like some colors it's fine as well, but if you put it there because you think it's good art or he's the next big thing then the joke is actually on you. Especially if you paid a lot of money for it.

He copied Warhol's's factory process. The difference is Warhol had a vision, something to say and knew how to get product from his artisans that meant something. MBW didn't have that so his art factory turned out material more akin to a poster or T-shirt manufacturer.

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It all didn't have depth. Banksy's art speaks, it emits an emotional or creative pulse that people connect to. Thierrys art was quickly put together, not really thought out. For instance when he talks about his art, there's no depth to it, he stumbles with words on how to even describe it, he just says "I took out the guitar and put a gun" Okay... is that really art? I think it's an illusion of interest. The film shows the contrast between true artists (the street artists) and those who do it for the ego inflation and the cash. I think the name really proves that point, Exit Through The Gift Shop.

It's not always what you do but how you do it.

Actually, Warhol did NOT invent this style of production. Renaissance painters' and sculptors' studios were often put together in the same way. The head artist would hire a bunch of apprentices to do a lot of the 'grunt' work (as he taught them technique and helped them to refine their skills), and the artist would swoop in for the more technical, detailed stuff. Warhol certainly modernized it, but he didn't invent it.

I find MBW's work to be extremely derivative, but that isn't particularly a bad thing, in this instance. I think the derivative nature of it says a lot. Not that I think MBW is aware of that message that it is conveying or that he did it deliberately, but that it happened anyway.

What's....this....ruckus?

I liked his one painting, forgive my sense of history but it looked like a man from the 1700's holding a Gibson Firebird. very cool.

Come at the king, you best not miss.

I completely agree. I also thought his "Life Remote Control" movie looked pretty cool, although it is definitely possible that it could get tiring to watch after a while.

Had I been living in L.A. when MBW's show was there, I'd have gone and enjoyed myself just like the people they interviewed, and would like them have expressed hope that there would be more such events ongoing. I wouldn't have spent thousands of dollars on the art, but that's a whole different subject, as people paying too much for art has been going on forever.

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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc

You can't say that good art is based on the looks of the art. You can't say that good art is based on the methods of production. You can't say that good art is about originality.