Mr. Brainwash (often written MBW) is a name used by French-born, Los Angeles-based street artist Thierry Guetta. According to the 2010 Banksy-directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta was a proprietor of a used clothing store, where he began as a security guard, and amateur videographer who was first introduced to street art by his cousin, the street artist Invader, and who filmed street artists through the 2000's and became an artist in his own right in a matter of weeks after an off-hand suggestion from Banksy.
A number of critics have observed that his works strongly emulate the styles and concepts of Banksy, and have speculated that Guetta is an elaborate prank staged by Banksy, who may have created the works himself. Banksy insists on his official website, however, that Exit Through the Gift Shop is authentic and that Guetta is not part of a prank.
His work sold for five-figure sums at his self-financed debut exhibit Life Is Beautiful, due, it is thought, to a mixture of an overheated and hyped street art market and – according to Banksy and Shepard Fairey as seen in Exit – his misuse of endorsements from Banksy and Fairey. The exhibit was held in Los Angeles, California, on June 18, 2008, and was a popular success. In 2009, Madonna paid Guetta to design the cover art for her Celebration album.
In October 2013, Guetta took part in Art Wars at the Saatchi Gallery curated by Ben Moore. Guetta was issued with a stormtrooper helmet, which he transformed into a work of art. Proceeds went to the Missing Tom Fund set up by Ben Moore to find his brother Tom who has been missing for over ten years. The work was also shown on the Regents Park platform as part of Art Below Regents Park.
Since the release of the film Exit Through the Gift Shop, there has been much speculation that the film and story of Mr. Brainwash are a hoax concocted by Banksy and Shepard Fairey themselves. When Guetta is shown "working", he is only seen splattering paint using aerosol cans to haphazardly color images and clumsily attempting to paste up a poster. Other aspects of the Mr. Brainwash character seem deliberately comical, such as his being pushed in a wheelbarrow after supposedly breaking his foot. Some have theorized that the very existence of MBW was concocted for the purpose of the film.
The Times noted that "The blogs buzzed with rumours: that Mr Brainwash is nothing but a front for Banksy; even that he is Banksy." Fast Company concludes that "The whole thing, it's clear now, was an intricate prank being pulled on all of us by Banksy, who has never publicly revealed his identity, with Fairey as his accomplice. ... [His work] looks like Banksy trying not to look like Banksy..."
Some suggest that Fairey and Banksy have been artificially inflating the sales of Mr. Brainwash's work. According to Rebecca Cannon, Mr. Brainwash's work hasn't sold as well on independent forums:
With both shows held outside of commercial galleries, no professional dealers have had their reputation on the line in making fake claims of high sales. However, if Guetta is a hoax, there also exists the possibility that these artworks are actually produced by Banksy himself, in a style deliberately intended to suggest inferior artistic skill.
As the movie opened in North America, in April 2010, The Boston Globe movie reviewer Ty Burr found it to be quite entertaining as a farce and awarded it four stars. He dismissed the notion of the film being a "put on" saying "I’m not buying it; for one thing, this story’s too good, too weirdly rich, to be made up. For another, the movie’s gently amused scorn lands on everyone."
The artshow "Life Is Beautiful" depicted in the movie did occur, which implies that if this is a hoax the character of Thierry Guetta has existed since at least June 2008. A trailer for his movie, Life Remote Control, has been on YouTube since 2006. This suggests that, at the very least, genuine details of Guetta's life have been woven into the narrative.
An LA Times investigation found "[the] details of Guetta's unlikely biography are broadly supported by a review of public records, which trace his life in Los Angeles from his arrival as a teenager in the early 1980s. They are also consistent with the accounts of friends, former business associates and employees over those years."Friends the Times interviewed confirmed the film's story that Guetta was constantly filming and several notarized documents prove that he hired someone to assist with the construction of his film Life Remote Control.
However, it also adds that "it is impossible to prove whether his latest incarnation, Mr. Brainwash, is sincere. The film suggests that Guetta's artistic alter ego is largely a creation of Banksy, a notion Guetta doesn't refute." Guetta told the paper: "In the end, I became [Banksy's] biggest work of art."