Exit Through the Gift Shop

Hanksy, the Banksy-Meets-Tom Hanks Street Artist, Tells Us the Secrets to Spoofing Celebrities

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying Banksy is so 2010. Hanksy, the similarly secretive street artist and love child of Banksy and Tom Hanks, is reaching his own level of notoriety thanks to his celeb-inspired murals, the subject of Gallery 1988 ... More >>

A New Book Looks at How Banksy Got So Big

See also: *Banksy Revealed? Our 2010 cover story on Exit Through the Gift Shop Several weeks ago, the Internet exploded with stories about a Banksy piece removed straight from a wall and later found at a

From China to Pompeii: Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

Our weekly list of special event movies to see this week: Friday, Oct. 12 Dying to take that long-overdue visit to the Getty Villa? The museum's outdoor film series, presented in conjunction with its exhibition "The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection," might just be the great ... More >>

Skid Row Puts on a Memorial Day Parade Extravaganza -- With the Help of Mr. Brainwash

At first glance, L.A.'s Skid Row doesn't seem like it would have a flourishing performance arts scene. But Skid Row's Los Angeles Poverty Department -- abbreviated as, yes, LAPD -- was founded by director John Malpede in 1985 to develop the arts and culture of the city's well-known home to the home ... More >>

Shepard Fairey Guests on 'The Simpsons' For Episode on Bart's Graffiti-Art Obsession

Fox / obeygiant.comShepard Fairey and Bart Simpson.​Forget Law & Order. It's The Simpsons that's ripped from the headlines. The show will ride the Art in the Streets zeitgeist that has hipsters popping into galleries and cops popping graffiti creators. The March 4 episode mocks the Banksy doc ... More >>

Mr. Brainwash: Our Interview

In the 2010 documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, Mr. Brainwash hires a team of artists to create his art for him and becomes a millionaire after just one hugely successful Los Angeles show, despite the fact that other artists in the film think he's a hack and possibly mentally ill. It's not exact ... More >>

Mr. Brainwash's 'Art Show 2011' Gets Populism Right

photo by Nanette GonzalesMr. Brainwash's "Art Show 2011"​ Update: Show has been extended, and will be open one more day, on Jan. 8. Doors open at 2 p.m. Location is 960 N. La Brea Ave. At "Art Show 2011," equivocal street artist Mr. Brainwash's 80,000 square-foot feat, Mr. Brainwash sat at a ... More >>

Art Show 2011

Shepard Fairey Designs Wall for New District La Brea Shopping Complex

​ Wait, what? Is that Shepard Fairey putting up a mural in broad daylight on La Brea at 11 a.m.? The cops are going to stop him any second! Fairey is the street artist who rose to fame in 2008 when his Obama "Hope" poster became the emblem of an era, and was a major player in the 2010 Banksy ... More >>

Mr. Brainwash Invites You to Participate in his Latest Exhibit/Party, 'Art Show 2011'

Shannon CottrellThe site of Mr. Brainwash's upcoming show​ As if traffic along the La Brea corridor isn't already bad enough, L.A.'s beloved street artist Mr. Brainwash -- who first got attention through our cover story and later through the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop -- is staging ... More >>

Judge Rules Run-DMC Photo, Used by L.A. Street Artist Mr. Brainwash, Protected by Copyright Law: What Will It Mean for Fair Use?

PHOTO BY GREGORY BOJORQUEZMr. Brainwash just got busted.​Forget the Shepard Fairey case. Music photographer Glen E. Friedman's lawsuit against Mr. Brainwash, the street artist profiled alongside Banksy in Oscar-nominated doc "Exit Through the Gift Shop," is the one to watch for legal fair-use ... More >>

Banksy Sponsors Free Mondays at MOCA's 'Art in the Streets' Exhibition

Ted SoquiBanksy really feels L.A.​We wouldn't blame Banksy if he hated L.A. After all, we took down his art, stole it and covered it up during his stay in our fine city in winter in the weeks leading up to (and after) the Academy Awards (where his documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop was up ... More >>

Mr. Brainwash Strikes Again! New Piece Sets Venue for His First L.A. Show Since Exit Through the Gift Shop

Shannon Cottrell​ Consider yourself warned. Mr. Brainwash, aka Thierry Guetta, the real guy/fake artist star of Banksy's Exit Through the Gift Shop is bringing another of his art shows to Los Angeles, and, as evidenced by the new explosion of wheatpaste and red paint on the corner of La Brea a ... More >>

Kevin Smith: "I Am So, Like, Sick of Movies and Shit"

On the road with the cult filmmaker turned podcaster turned DIY warrior

Banksy's 'Elephant' Tank Artwork in L.A. Was Home to a Man Named Tachowa Covington

Ted SoquiBanksy's 'Elephant.'​You can live in art (architect R.M. Schindler's work is often an object of desire in L.A.) if you have the means. But for an otherwise homeless guy named Tachowa Covington, artful shelter came to him for free. And then it was taken away. Turns out that Banksy-t ... More >>

Was Banksy's Sunset Blvd Billboard 'Livin' the Dream' Really Just a Slick Advertisement?

Ted SoquiBanksy's 'Livin' the Dream.'​Update: A spokeswoman for the billboard advertiser says it ain't so, after the jump. Was Banksy's "Livin' the Dream" billboard art all an inside job? That's the report being echoed in blogland this week following the British artist's whirlwind tour of L. ... More >>

Valuable Banksy Street Art Stolen From East Los Angeles Wall (Photos)

Ted SoquiBanksy's 'Caution.'​Photos by Ted Soqui. British guerrilla artist Banksy was robbed, and it wasn't at the Academy Awards, where is Exit Through the Gift Shop documentary was nominated but didn't win Sunday. No, another one of his pieces around L.A. was taken down. But this one appea ... More >>

#Banksy and the #Oscars: Our Fave Tweets About the Artist and the Big Show Are More Entertaining Than James Franco

OK MagazineBanksy?​Banksy seemed to get more positive buzz from the Oscars on Sunday than James Franco. And the artist wasn't even there. After a few weeks in L.A. in which the British wall painter saw his work taken down, stolen and vandalized, it was only fitting that he would then be dis ... More >>

Oscars 2011: The Most Embarrasing Academy Awards Ever?

"It's the young and hip Oscars!" So chirped Anne Hathaway when returning to the mic after 50 year-old winner Melissa Leo--looking much more legitimately glamorous than in those for your consideration ads she controversially self-financed--spontaneously let the word "fucking" escape her lips whil ... More >>

Banksy Gets Uninvited to Oscars: Will He Show Anyway?

Pia MiaBanksy gets vandalized.​Banksy has had his L.A. artwork vandalized and even taken down and crumpled up like trash, and now he must endure a non-invitation to the Academy Awards, where his documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, is up for an Oscar. The news, broken at The Wrap and The ... More >>

Banksy Boy-With-Gun Art in Westwood Vandalized; Singer Pia Mia Has the Photos

Pia MiaBanksy's boy soldier gets splashed with paint.​Looks like the latest twist for British guerrilla artist Banksy is Friday night/Saturday morning vandalism for his attention-getting boy-with-a-gun piece in Westwood. Teen singer Pia Mia, who has taken to serenading the work behind a Westw ... More >>

Banksy in L.A: 14-Year-Old Singer Pia Mia Serenades Banksy Artwork in Westwood (Video)

YouTubePia Mia sings for Banksy.​British guerrilla artist Banksy has stirred up quite a whirlwind of media, emotion and debate over his street pieces, spotted around L.A. recently in advance of his shot at an Academy Award for Exit Through the Gift Shop. A crowd gathered and hurumphed earlier ... More >>

Six-Figure Banksy Piece Ripped From Sunset Boulevard Billboard Just Not Good Enough For CBS Outdoor

Ted SoquiBanksy is just not CBS Outdoor material.​Banksy might be a world-renowned street artist whose work can fetch six-figure prices. But don't tell that to CBS Outdoor, the advertising company that ripped the Brit's "Livin' the Dream" piece from a billboard above Sunset and Crescent Heigh ... More >>

Banksy Art Worth Six Figures Ripped Down From Sunset Boulevard Billboard, Crumpled Up in a Ball

MELROSEandFAIRFAXBanksy blasts L.A.​Update: Video of the take-down added after the jump. British guerrilla artist Banksy has quietly been ninja-footing through town, putting up his signature images in the days before the Academy Awards, where his Exit Through the Gift Shop is up for an Oscar. ... More >>

Banksy Facebook Protest Erupts to Protect Westwood Graffiti Art (New Photos)

Ted SoquiBanksy's telltale work in Westwood.​Photos by Ted Soqui L.A. art lovers are banding together on Facebook in an attempt to prevent the removal of another Banksy piece in the city. This after ...

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Celebrities Caught Tagging at Banksy Premiere

At the Monday night premiere of Banksy's Documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop at Los Angeles Theater, guests were offered the chance to tag a bus and limo parked on the street. Check out what they wrote below and see Colin Young-Wolff's photo gallery, "Where's Banksy?" for more scenes from Monday ... More >>

Faux Hookers, Bartending Kids at Banksy Premiere

​ Exit Through the Gift Shop, the documentary starring (and apparently detourned by) street artist Banksy, had its LA premiere last night at the grand old Los Angeles Theater in Downtown LA. In our cover story this week, Banksy himself claimed that "the plan for the American premiere is to sur ... More >>

Banksy Revealed?

The Zorro of street art talks about his new film, Los Angeles and, of course, Mr. Brainwash