Street Art: Breaking the law or expression?

Well I finally sat down and watched Exit Through the Gift Shop. I have been a Banksy fan for nearly a year and this film made me appreciate street art even more and also question what art really is.

(poster featuring one of my all time favorite Bansky pieces) 

To me, art is an expression of a deep feeling or a reaction to something that has inspired the artist. So is it really our job to say that a few stripes on a page aren't art? Not really. We aren't the artist-we don't know what provoked it. All we see is the finished product, we know nothing about how the artist felt or what made the artist react in that way. So my conclusion is....everything is art! That makes things seem so much more pleasant, don't you think?

The film also showed other street artists and turned out to be more about the filmmaker rather than Banksy himself. Banksy is the director, Mister Brainwash is the true subject. I like Mister Brainwash, but in my opinion, he has nothing on Banksy!

(Banksy)

(The image that first put Mister Brainwash on the map)

The film also features other artists that Mister Brainwash encountered along the way-only one I was familiar with because of his work with the Obama campaign-you will probably recognize his work as well. His name is Shephard Fairey and I am only familiar with him because Mr. Pinneau encouraged me to look into street art because that's what most of my work ended up looking like back in my Art II days.

Long live street art! Bring the world together!

Also a side note is this mural of the cover of a famous Elliott Smith album. It was created outside of the studio that the "Figure 8" album was recorded in (in LA) by fans shortly after his premature death. Elliott Smith is my heart. I love him love him love him. His music is absolutely without flaw.

So to make this a really long post, here is an Elliott Smith song! This makes me sad to see it live but also so very happy! Enjoy!