In a daring move, I’m pretty sure that Exit Through The Gift Shop was my favorite movies of all the bullshit I caught last year. See that qualifier? Good. I enjoyed its dissection of what happens when the underground is embraced, and then commodified by mainstream culture. Street art went from a subversive means of getting across ideas, or just drawing shit, and became a popculture staple. What the fuck is the response to your own success? At the epicenter of this conversation was the documentary’s star, Thierry Guetta or  Mr. Brainwash. He was the point made literal; the bastard who bastardized Banksy’s motives and shoved it down the gullible masses’ throat.

But the question’s always been, is Brainwash even fucking real?

Dude to talked this week The Envelope, and Slashfilm has wrestled out some interesting nuggets.
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Banksy is one of my good ole heroes, and he’s recently returned to Hollywood with some new street art. Perhaps its in some sort of  guerrilla  effort to promote Exit Through the Gift Shop, which is currently nominated for an Oscar.

Hit the jump for the recent work.

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Enlarge. | Via.

Color me oblivious to award show bullshit. I had no idea that Banksy’s documentary-turned-perhaps-faux-documentary-turned-maybe-really-documentary-turned-definitely-a-mindfuck Exit Through The Gift Shop was nominated for Best Documentary this year. Outstanding. Just as astounding? Banksy’s statement after Exit was nominated:

This is a big surprise. I don’t agree with the concept of award ceremonies, but I’m prepared to make an exception for the ones I’m nominated for. The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me.

The movie is one of my favorite works of the part year, frreal. If you haven’t seen it, it’s streaming on Netflix and I think it was even free on Hulu last week? I’m not sure. None the less, it’s a hilarious commentary on underground movements, and what happens when those movements are (inevitably) coopted and monetized. That’s the problem with doing something new and having it strike a chord with people.

Commodification.

Anyways, the send-up is outstanding, and it’s been nominated and whatever.  Now with the nomination, shit is getting interesting. According to Slashfilm:

This week we’ve begun to hear reports that  Banksy (the credited director of the street art documentary) is beginning his award campaign the only way he knows how to – street art. Or could this be the work of Mr. Brainwash? This looks a bit too sloppy to be a Banksy production, and MBW has been using Stormtroopers in his work recently.

Fantastic.