I’ve been following Mr. Brainwash for well over a decade. He is based here in Los Angeles, and has been on the street/pop art scene for quite a while now. He is best known for taking street art and pop art, and colliding them into a work of his own. Though, the question seems to linger around him, “Is it his own?”. There is a very interesting story about how he became a street artist and his ride to fame, and I’m fascinated with it. More on that shortly.
When I heard that his current exhibition/museum now occupies a huge chunk of prime real estate in Beverly Hills, I absolutely had to make a visit and see this artist’s work in person.
Through all the years I’ve followed his career, I still can’t decide if Mr. Brainwash is simply influenced, or if he is a plagiarist. He takes iconic imagery, things like superheroes or Star Wars characters, fuses them together with well known classic artwork, to create a work of his own, but is it really his own?
His most famous piece, I’d suppose, and a great example of the controversy surrounding him, is the cover of Madonna’s 2009 “Celebration” greatest hits album with a portrait of the popstar packaged up like Warhol’s “Marilyn” series. A stenciled image of her face with blotches of primary colors for the make-up and hair.
It’s clearly influenced, if not directly plagiarized, by the most famous pop artist of all time, repurposing Marilyn’s pose with the most famous female pop star of all time.
He clearly employs the ideas from other well known pop artists, Harring, Basquiat, Banksy, and especially Warhol, by taking popular images and common sights in the world, and remixing them. Warhol did this with soup cans, which Brainwash took and made his own: The Campbell’s Soup “Tomato Spray” cans. He even sells empty limited edition versions of these cans in the gift shop.
However, Mr. Brainwash is so bold as to blatantly take key, signature designs of other artists, the very ones he idolizes, then uses their own methods of creation, and producing work he calls his original. I can’t tell if he is trying to make a statement about something/someone, or just making eye catching brain candy using recognizable preproduced images and designs entertainment?
It is rumored that Mr. Brainwash is actually street artist Banksy. There is a good amount of time spent on this theory in the documentary, “Exit Through The Gift Shop”, about the current street art stars, focusing heavily on Brainwash. It’s practically a sizzle real for this unknown artist, instead of the documentary about Banksy it was supposedly intended to be. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s a compelling rumor. Click the photo below for the trailer.
If it IS true, I hypothesize it’s actually 3 people; Banksy, Shepard Fairey of OBEY fame, and Thierry Guetta, a.k.a. Mr. Brainwash. If true, I believe it is a project conceived between the three as an art project, that once the details are revealed, will make a statement about the art world/industry, celebrity, “sheeple”, wealth, etc. Brainwash is the face of it, while Banksy, and Fairey create behind the scenes, along with employing a Warhol type factory of employees physically creating the art based on their ideas.
If you know anything about Banksy at all, you know he is very much a prankster with a wicked sense of humor. In 2018, a painting of his, “Girl With Balloon” sold at auction for $1.4 million. As soon as the gavel hit the podium and the deal was sealed, a paper shredder built into the frame kicked on and shredded the artwork the frame was holding. The painting was then valued between $5 -1 $8 million, but sold again for $25.4 million. So, I would not put it past him that Mr. Brainwash is another “prank” on the art world.
Watch the clip of the shredding below!
Gallery above: Banksy in disguise, Shepard Fairey posing with Obama artwork, Mr. Brainwash.
Mr. Brainwash uses a lot of Banksy and Fairey signature designs in his art, which cannot just be ok with them, yet neither one have done anything about it. In the documentary, they both seem to be perturbed that Brainwash has appropriated their original art, their methods of creation, but also project a golly-gee-whiz attitude of “Oh well, what can you do?”
Also of note, the film is directed by Banksy. Why would he give the spotlight to an artist that was ripping off his ideas, and making a name and money off of that? Befriending the guy, but then trash talk him by the end of the documentary? Then release it to the public? It seems like he has a vested interest in Brainwash and his performance with the eyeing and buying public. So, I guess in one sense, Banksy did create Mr. Brainwash.
Something doesn’t add up, though. There are obvious potential lawsuits worth millions in dollars, artistic integrity, and creator’s pride just sitting there collecting dust waiting for the case “When does original work “inspired by” existing work become plagiarism?” to be deliberated again in a court of law.
When asked point blank if Banksy is his creator, Mr. Brainwash says “It’s a big question mark. Anybody has his own answer.” At no point does he flat out, emphatically deny it. Maybe Brainwash IS Banksy, and this is his way of being able to show his face in public?
Also, the building where the exhibit is cannot be cheap. It takes up 3 stories in the heart of Beverly Hills, one block over from the shining gems at Tiffany’s, BVGALRI, and Cartier on Rodeo Drive, in the most famous zip code in the entire world. There has to be major, MAJOR, money behind this endeavor. I don’t believe for one second that a single artist, who is lesser known than his idols/predecessors, would be “ok’d” by the board of that building to use as an art gallery. Especially this kind of art. It’s not of the typical Beverly Hills artistic aesthetic.
I’m still thinking on all that, though. I do suppose that rumor is part of the appeal. It adds mystique whether true or not. The rumor is possibly (probably) part of the art/statement.
Maybe Andy Warhol was right when he said “Art is anything you can get away with.” Mr. Brainwash, or Banksy, whether one singular individual, or a band of pop artist brothers, is certainly getting away with it.
Having said all that, I had an absolute blast at the gallery. There is so much drawing your attention, left, right, center, above and below! It’s like Brainwash took every pop culture reference, every artistic influence he ever had, and every color of the spectrum, put all that in a t-shirt cannon, then fired it into the world audience. It is a literal playground for your mind.
My first thought when walking into the museum is that it looks like it was decorated by set designers for The Real World who had an unlimited budget. You’re greeted with a volcano shaped pile of carefully constructed boomboxes, a mama T-rex and her T-baby made of hardback books (a not so subtle jab at how physical literature is becoming extinct), an 8ft tall basketball under a 12ft tall LaBron painting, and a human size early 1980’s PC.
There is a lot, and I mean A LOT, to see, take in, and stimulate all your senses with. Art to make your mind POP! Let’s have a look at some of what is on display, shall we?
I’ll admit, I didn’t really have an emotional reaction to his work like I do with other artists, even though he was using their work within his own. However, it did make me ooh, ahh, laugh, and smile because of just how fun it is. Maybe that is simply the point?
A lot of the work seems to be well known art pieces from all era’s of art history from a millionaire’s auction, fused with current pop imagery like video game icons, technology such as iPads and smartphones, and celebrities. If these were digital, they would become memes, get passed around and go viral. Some of them have! I know I’ve seen some of them on Facebook before I entered the gallery.
Again though, I don’t know if this mash-up of classical and pop was his original idea, or if he saw them online and designed his own using the idea.
There were different sections that included fine artists like Van Gogh, but with a twist.
You can even hop into a Van Gogh painting and have a seat.
There was also a hallway lined with Star Wars VS classical art mash-ups.
Guests can also write on the walls of the room where all 4 walls are a chalkboard. The museum even provides the chalks!
There is a wall with 100 Mona Lisa’s altered just slightly.
For the rest of what was on display, flip through the gallery below. I highly recommend expanding the images to see all of the detail and nuances.
