art? art.

I just watched "exit through the gift shop," and I want to create.  Is there anything better than creating for the sake of creating?

I felt kind of weird about the movie halfway through.  I kind of think it’s a hoax that banksy created to make a point.  A point about art vs. "art."  what i mean is actual art, vs. people that are commercial or financial successes, but don’t really have a purpose, though they might have good intentions.  Like Mr. Brainwash (even his name!) was copying the art of everyone around him, endorsed by famous names, was able to make a lot of money and become an international sensation overnight.  He didn’t even really create art, beyond his ideas–he had a team of people doing it for him.  Is that still art?  I don’t know, but I felt pretty weird about it.  I felt a lot of interesting commentary going on about what art is, and what legitimizes it.  And the whole time, I was thinking, "did this really happen?  Or is it a story we’re being told in order to make us think more deeply about the world around us?"  Regardless of what the truth is, it was a powerful film.

Maybe more importantly,  I really felt a spark ignited by all of the beautiful street art.  I love that it’s so temporary.  I love that it’s so public, unprofitable.  The best is when it means something.  That’s the thrill of good banksy art. 

you look at it, and immediately, you are struck.  I don’t feel this about everything banksy makes.  But maybe I don’t "get" everything he makes.  But when it’s really good, you go, "wow."  and then you sit there, just looking for awhile.  Ok, so he’s well known.  So he’s a "sell out," according to some.  Whatever.  His art still means something and it still makes you go "wow."  I don’t care.  If he makes money off of it, that doesn’t change what it makes you feel.  What if you didn’t know that it made him money?  What if you just thought he was some unknown?

That’s honestly how I percieved him for a long time.  I came across his art many times before I ever heard of him or knew who he was.  Hell, I even was living in the same house with a copy of one of his famous images (the girl with the balloons) for many years before I had really ever heard of him.  I didn’t even know that separate works of his were all the same artist, for awhile.  But it struck me. 

That’s good art.  That’s meaningful.

He’s so inspired.  He’s something special.

He makes me want to make art.