As we all breathlessly await to see what Banksy has in store for us during the 2012 Olympics, Mr Brainwash the second rate graffiti artist has produced a massive mural in London, ahead of the start of the games and the opening of a large one person exhibition. We know many opportunists will take advantage to grandstand their work, in guerilla fashion around the capital, as it becomes the centre for global attention next week.
After the release of “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” the Banksy’s documentary about the Mr. Brainwash film archive, Thierry Guetta has launched a checkered career of self promotion, releasing his overpriced prints. They are made in a factory and thumb printed by this opportunistic, untrained artist. Despite being widely derided as a fake, Mr. Brainwash is still making art, with a degree of success. He designed the cover of the 2009 Madonna’s Best Of Collection as well as the Red Hot Chili Peppers album “I’m With You.” This has given him credibility with the over 40’s. He’s now set to mount his first solo show in the UK, in early August, at the Old Sorting Office in London. His Kate Moss mural is nearby the venue where the upcoming show will be held.
Mr Brainwash is not really an artist as such, but a master of pastiche. His work resembles other artists work and he has no real identity of its own. If he were in a band it would be like sampling other peoples records and assembling them into a new track. His work is executed in a studio factory with a team of young art students creating much of the physical work. Like Hirst and Koons Guetta’s work is reasonably well crafted but it still lacks the soul of a true artist. Many of his ideas come from art books.
Photo: Courtesy blog.avamirabelle.com