Thursday 18 March 2010

orson fucking welles

I’ve always been with Charlie Brooker when it comes to Banksy.


I much prefer the little booklet of Nathan Barley's ‘Banksy style’ work that comes with the Barley DVD.




Plus the appreciation of ‘street art’ is something I associate largely with privileged fauxhemians with an aching desperation to appear edgy at all costs.

So I wasn’t exactly waiting with baited breath to see this.

It’s nice to be proved wrong. ‘Exit..’ is clearly the best thing he's done, totally orson welles, a micro-doc 'F for fake’. It's a humourous, self-reflexive documentary that addresses everyone’s culpability in the insane world of contemporary art.

The second half is the strongest. Just at the point where it seems to be turning into an amusing but mildly fawning hagiography of the Bristolian ‘genius’ it performs a splendid about turn, morphing into a lacerating morality fable involving Banksy's fan turned protégé Mr Brainwash. As various art scene bellends fall over themselves to buy Brainwash’s shitty sub-warholian Athena prints, the joke is revealed to be on everyone, Bansky included. And he comes out of it all quite well actually. Maybe I’ve underestimated him.

That said, I’m almost certain that he actually says the line ‘It’s tenners with Princess Di’s face on, yeah?’, while holding up his infamous counterfeited notes with the peoples princess on them.

If so, Ned Smanks would be proud. It truly was well bum.

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