A Bit of Irony

I just finished watching Exit Through the Gift Shop and it made me remember a few things:

Firstly, I now know why almost everyone I meet asks me if i’ve seen this film once they discover that I’m an Art History major.

Secondly, I remember how a friend of mine ranted to me about how she believed Banksy had sold out by having an art show and selling his items. I would like to respond to this.

My impression of Street Art was its limited life span. It is an image/text seen by the public soon to be removed by an institution. Banksy claimed himself that he realized his art was about the experience of people viewing it. With this idea in mind, what better than to have a show of his work? The gallery was an exhibition of the people itself and their particular experience being in that atmosphere under pre-fabricated notions. The atmosphere became a designated institution legally organized and no longer opposing the other authoritative institution (police/government). In this respect, the opposition became the public themselves. What appears to be the original intentions of Street Art was to create something for the public while at the same time defying an institution. The gallery turned everything into capitalism. It zeroed in on the human necessity to categorize and collect. Is that not also an experience of public behavior in relation to the art?

In all honesty, I believe Banksy hasn’t sold out though he may reap from the benefits. He, as a Street Artist, turned public fascination against them. Instead of BEING in that place and EXPERIENCING the art they became possessive of it. They became a part of a collective institution more terrifying and abominable than the authoritative institution. The “public institution” is now melded to the gallery to create a type of public art viewable to those who step back and see everything as a whole.