Exit Through the Gift Shop: Anonymous Art & Attribution

Graffiti is a curious art form. Works of graffiti are usually ignored, or worse, criticized for invading our public space and often destroyed. For example, a whitewashing of an outdoor mural has caused protesting in Los Angeles..This is in contrast to advertising, which not only invades but dominates public space, and which we largely accept (for more on this, see NYC-based PublicAdCampaign).

However, a few graffiti artists have earned our respect. Perhaps the most renowned of graffiti artists is "Banksy". He travels around the world, marking up public spaces with humorous images that are simple and often feature appropriated elements. Who he is, what his modus operandi is, and where he'll go next are all difficult to pin down. Despite his fame and admiration, he remains aloof and anonymous.

Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary released in Spring 2010, went some way to unmasking the figure, but only some way. Anthony Lane, reviewing the film in New Yorker, notes that Banksy's fan base is actually "unceasingly piqued by his anonymity." Accordingly, the film is vague in its acknowledgments. Banksy remains obscured, and no writer or director is even given credit.

The film has come under attack for being a hoax. In response to those charges, Banksy issued a rare statement to blogger AJ Schnack, of All Wonderful Things, that the film is true.