Street art’s gallery ascent devolved into market-driven kitsch

Evidence

The art world itself mirrored the era’s poptimist tendencies. Street art, which initially seemed poised to reinvigorate the gallery scene, devolved into kitsch. Banksy’s 2010 documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, attempted to make a cautionary tale out of Mr. Brainwash, a sub-Warholian prankster who excited the market with cliché pieces, such as Michael Jackson with Marilyn Monroe’s blond locks, and Einstein holding a sign that reads “Love is the answer.” Banksy’s critique hardly stuck; Madonna asked Mr. Brainwash to design an album cover for her third greatest hits collection, Celebration. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 255

Categorization

• XREF: Exit Through the Gift Shop as evidence for the death of the sellout mechanism — even self-parody gets absorbed into commerce.