Mr. Brainwash smeared with spray Snowflake – La Vanguardia

Banksy before Banksy, that is, prior to his conversion on the most famous street artist in the world, was in Barcelona in 2003. He left many footprints in the streets of the Raval and Gotic even snuck morning at the zoo and signed his name on the cage of the Penguins. His colleague in the art of the night Mr. Brainwash , star of the documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop , does not even remember if you have been or ever in Barcelona, ​​but has not missed the opportunity presented by the Gallery 3 Punts, which dedicated his first exhibition in Spain, to daub with Snowflake spray. “When I looked into his eyes I felt I was not at an animal, but to a real human being,” says via video, still groggy from his studio in Los Angeles. “Like me, the gorilla touched the hearts of people and I thought it deserved to become part of the culture through an artistic creation,” he adds, referring to the large sculpture of almost two meters high exposed in the gallery of Enric Granados with a series of 21 original with the albino protagonist.

Mr. Brainwash is an international star of street art, the history, so wild and extravagant looks pure fiction. Before becoming Mr. Brainwash (“this is how we are all” laughs) named Thierry Guetta, and was apparently a normal citizen. A French owner of a vintage shop in Los Angeles obsessively filming everything that was around him, until he stumbled with some fascinating nocturnal creatures: the street performers. Banksy urges you to try your luck in the world of graffiti and he, without thinking twice, overwhelms their homes and hires twelve assistants of study for an exhibition at the old CBS studios the opening day received more than 7,000 onlookers. Within three months he had sold works worth exceeding $ 100 million. It was the most resounding debut in the history of art, that is why its house brand is the phrase “Life is Beautiful”, he scribbled by hand, with the letters dripping painting, as if written with fresh blood.

The adventures of Mr. Brainwash’s made

known Banksy himself in that Exit Through the Gift Shop , which was nominated for an Oscar, but nobody knows where reality begins ends and fiction. It matters little. Has he designed album covers for Madonna and campaigns for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is at the peak of his career and is claimed by galleries worldwide. The Barcelona is the first to be held in Spain, and that you are dreaming of a large hangar where, in a few months, to make a great “show that attracts people from all over Europe.” More than one critic saw the film Banksy a metaphor to denounce the commercialization of art born in the street. And more than one imagines the night artists as characters outlaws, subversives although benign, defying authority, risking and endangering the sheer pleasure of it. But that’s not something I lose sleep at Mr. Brainwash. “I started on the street because it was the only place where I could express myself, but art is homeless. You can live on the street, in a gallery, in a museum or in a house. Everything is art. Street art does not come with any manual, it is absurd to think otherwise. “

Mr. Brainwash is the third exhibition dedicated to street art 3 Punts, so you know in advance that in the coming weeks it will be queues of youngsters waiting their turn at the gallery. The price -all original- works ranging from 3,000 euros, the cheapest, and 60,000 sculpture Snowflake. Fans will not be disappointed: there are also reproductions of famous cultural icons like Elvis Presley or brandishing a rifle that looks askance Dali spray paint renamed, with permission from Warhol, like Tomato Campbell

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