THIERRY GUETTA MR.
BRAINWASH
2
THIERRY GUETTA MR.
BRAINWASH
Thierry Guetta es Mr. Brainwash 2020 Elaboración y redacción María José Lichtle Lezama Diseño editorial María José Lichtle Lezama Derechos exclusivos de ediciónen castellano reservados para todo el mundo:© Editorial Seix Barral, S. A., 1964,2005 Avda. Diagonal, 662-664 - 08034 Barcelona Primera edición: Abril 2020, México,
4
5
6
content 9 who is mr. brainwash? 11 work 15 most important works 20 collaborations 36 why mr. brainwash?
7
8
why Mr. brainwash? summer, 2019
I discover Mr. Brainwash when i was traveling in New York City the last summer with my mother, my aunt and my little cousins. We were walking next to Central Park, when i saw a little gallery, most of the works had neon lights on it, so it has my attention inmmediatly, so i told them to come with me to meet the gallery. What i liked the most was, that all the works were collage type, with many different techniques, like the use of spray, acrylics and images that were cut from other works. After that, i decided to look for the artist that made that, and it was Mr. Brainwash, he has many different collaborations with other artist, and cause some controversy around the world with his work.
9
10
who is mr brainwash? For more than a decade, Thierry Guetta, under his moniker, Mr. Brainwash, has been pushing the envelope of contemporary art.The orchestrated collision of street art and pop art has been his balancing act. The tipping point for Mr. Brainwash was his groundbreaking footage from the widely-acclaimed documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop. This Academy-nominated film demonstrates the evolution of the street art movement with Mr. Brainwash, who, alongside Banksy, brings the art to the masses. Mr. Brainwash rocked the art world with his innovative and fearless style. He uses elements from pop art’s past and the raw components of his street art beginnings to create larger-than-life exhibitions and collaborations. Mr. Brainwash’s imaginative construction of gallery exhibitions and art shows throughout the world has continued to attract the attention of critics and celebrities alike. Navigating between worlds of film, celebrity culture, music, and sports, Mr. Brainwash has designed album covers for Madonna, Rick Ross, and KYGO. His artwork was featured in films and television productions such as Molly’s Game, Billions, Shameless, and the Kardashians. Mr. Brainwash’s talents are showcased in creative partnerships with powerhouse brands like Hublot, Coca Cola, and Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee. He also collaborated with world known soccer player Pelé, who joined the artist in splattering paint on select artwork. While undertaking worldwide solo exhibitions and residency at Art Basel each year, Mr. Brainwash creates opportunities to engage the public in the world of art. To that end, Mr. Brainwash has traveled across the globe for speaking engagements and seminars including addresses at UCLA, Columbia University and Semi Permanent, Australia’s largest creative conference. Mr. Brainwash’s passion extends his commitment to giving back to the community. He continues to donate artwork in support of the Los Angeles LGBT center, created commemorative 9/11 murals to honor the victims, and partnered with Product RED to raise AIDS awareness. Mr. Brainwash also lends his yearly support to organizations such as the Prince’s Trust for the benefit of vulnerable youth. He met with former First Lady Michelle Obama in support. 11
12
“I DOn’T KNOW HOW TO PLAY CHESS, BUT TO ME, LIFE IS LIKE A GAME OFF CHESS” MR. BRAINWASH
14
15
w o r k
“LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL” FIRST EVER SOLO EXHIBITION The former CBS Columbia Square studios in Hollywood opened its doors for the first time on June 18th, 2008, the doors having been closed since 2007. Promising a show like no one has ever seen, Mr Brainwash appropriately chose the city’s first film studio (then called Nestor Film Company) as the location for his debut into the art world. . Mr Brainwash transformed this once-pristine news and radio network to a gallery space that held a variety of mediums, from sculptures to installations, paintings and prints, all in his grandiose style. . Though he fell off a ladder while preparing for “Life is Beautiful,” a broken leg wasn’t enough to stop Mr Brainwash from the biggest art opening in Los Angeles. . Crowds were lined up for hours and around the block, with eager art-seekers even rushing through the gates past security in order to take a peek at MBW’s work.
16
17
THE CANS FESTIVAL May 3, 2008 The Cans Festival was the first British exhibit Banksy coordinated and curated in over three years and it featured the work of street artists worldwide, Brazil, Canada and Australia to name a few countries! Huge installations, varying from smashed up cars to a sculpture incorporating CCTVS, and mixed media artwork filled the abandoned tunnel that once was used by taxi drivers. The exhibit was free and open to the public during May 3rd – 5th, 2008. Visitors were also encouraged to play their part by adding their own stencil into the show. Mr Brainwash featured his iconic Britney Spears and Madonna image for the event.
18
19
Most impor tant works 20
21
MURAL IN WASHINGTON D.C. FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY March 11, 2016 Mr Brainwash unveiled a series of murals on Union Market in Washington, D.C. with First Lady Michelle Obama to celebrate International Women’s Day with the Let Girls Learn, the Obama Administration’s initiative to help adolescent girls worldwide attend and complete school. The artist created other images, artworks that featured messages and iconic imagery on Union Market’s exterior. First Lady Michelle Obama was on-site at the Northeast Union Market district on Tuesday to celebrate the first anniversary of Let Girls Learn and asked Mr Brainwash to teach her how to spray paint. Together they added a few more hearts and signed the inspiring work of art.
22
23
ROCK THE VOTE ROAD TRIP 2012 Rock the Vote announced today that it will once again hit the road with ‘Road Trip 2012,’ a bus tour designed to fully maximize voter registration, education, and engagement efforts as young people face an onslaught of regressive voting restrictions in states across the country. Celebrated street artist Mr. Brainwash designed the inspired tour bus exterior . Each tour stop will feature exciting talent, speakers, and celebrity hosts—including Jack Johnson, Motion City Soundtrack, Tabi Bonney and Asher Roth just to name a few. The first leg kicked off in Tampa, FL on August 28th around the Republican National Convention before the bus winds its way to Charlotte, NC for the Democratic National Convention, and then across the South and East Coast wrapping at Penn State on September 19th with a performance by Jack Johnson, who said, “By voting, the youth has the power to shape the world they want. If you like to rock and if you like having the right to vote, come out and help us Rock The Vote on September 19th”. Jack will be joined at this date with special performances by G. Love and ALO. Since its founding 21 years ago, Rock the Vote has become the largest nonpartisan registration organization in the country, registering over 2.2 million individuals to vote in 2008 alone. Some of the incredible talent that performed during Road Trip ’08 included TV On The Radio, Beastie Boys, Santigold, Ben Harper, Jack Black, and Sheryl Crow. In 2012, Rock the Vote has teamed up with experiential marketing agency BMF Media Group for event production to bring this election to young people and find more ways for them to engage, get registered, and speak out about why they are participating in the election this year.
24
25
GOES TO THE OSCARS PAINTS MURAL FOR THE OSCARS Following his acceptance of the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary the night before, Mr Brainwash and his wife Deborah Guetta attended the 83rd Academy Awards for “Exit Through The Gift Shop”. “Exit Through The Gift Shop” received an Oscar nomination late 2010(the film premiered for the first time at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010), also winning the Grierson Trust British Documentary Award in November of the same year. Although “Exit Through The Gift Shop” did not win an award for its category, its nomination only fueled the infamy surrounding Banksy and the curious fixation on Mr Brainwash. To commemorate the Oscars and Exit Through The Gift Shop’s nomination into its Best Documentary category by the Academy, Mr Brainwash painted a mural on La Brea Ave. of the Oscar statuette wearing a hoodie guarded, and filmed, by Storm Troopers.
26
27
JOIN POPE FRANCIS AT THE VATICAN FOR A THIRD PAINTING COLLABORATION Dec 13, 2019 The Vatican may not be known for its contemporary art. However, that image is changing. Meeting with Mr. Brainwash, Pope Francis, is bringing contemporary art to the Vatican. An unlikely pairing – they’ve teamed up to create a new canvas in celebration of immigrants. They’ve come together to create a canvas for charity, in the hopes of bringing awareness to the cause. And while this pairing may seem obscure for a lot of us it is not the first time for the two.
28
29
MEXICO IS BEAUTIFUL February 17, 2017 In February 2017, Mr Brainwash returned in Mexico City to host a show for which he created a series of original artworks, having as the main theme the great Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The artist celebrated the beauty of Mexico by creating a large mural that pictured Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, along with the inscription “Mexico is Beautiful�, now proudly displayed in the entrance of world famous restaurant Cipriani.
30
31
TRIBUTE 9/11 MURAL IN NY september 11, 2014 Mr Brainwash returned to New York to paint a mural commemorating the 14year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that changed the course of American history. He succeeded in completing a gargantuan 65-by-225-foot mural commemorating those affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Mounted on the wall of the Century 21 department store at 1972 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, just blocks away from where the twin towers once stood, the memorial is Guetta’s second attempt in two years to celebrate the resilience of post–9-11 New York through art. “Last year, we were here during 9-11, and we had people [approach us] that had lost husbands; some people were coming and crying in our arms,” Guetta, who created the mural with the help of a small team of apprentices, tells the Voice. “They said, ‘Thank you.’ We did something that people felt good about, so why stop that? We don’t want to stop.” Though Guetta was raised in Paris and has spent the past 35 years living and working in Los Angeles, last summer he was visiting New York City and found himself repeatedly pushing his flight back, changing his ticket more than a dozen times. He felt he wanted to be a New Yorker and, after visiting the 9-11 Memorial & Museum on Greenwich Street, decided to pay homage to an event that still looms exceptionally large in the city’s collective identity.
32
33
34
35
36
co lla bo ra ti ons
STAN LEE AT LA COMIC CON October 27-29, 2018 Stan Lee, the Godfather of Marvel Comics swung by Mr Brainwash’s secret studios a few months ago for a visit that ended in an impromptu photo shoot. The photos feature the comic book legend with props from some of his most famous characters including Captain America’s shield and huge, green Hulk hands. This Stan Lee / Mr Brainwash collaboration was on display for Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con, a three-day event held during this October at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. The event had over 100,000 attendees. Mr Brainwash’s exhibition at Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con featured life-size cut-outs from this once-in-a-lifetime photo shoot as well as iconic Marvel characters getting Mr Brainwash’s signature treatment. Stan Lee’s colorful and larger-than-life imagination is a perfect fit for Mr Brainwash’s style of kaleidoscopic pop art. Stan Lee is one of America’s most important cultural legends. Among the hundreds of characters and teams that he helped to create were the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Avengers and the X-Men. In 2008 he was awarded a National Medal of Arts.
37
38
MADONNA’S “CELEBRATION”
ALBUM COVER
Madonna, being highly attuned to the growing trends in art and contemporary culture, assigned the task of creating the cover art for her third greatest hits album, “Celebration”, to Mr Brainwash. As a nod to New York’s graffiti culture, since at a point in time Madonna was an active witness of, because of her relationship with Jean-Michel Basquiat while she was working on her eponymous debut album and origins, the collaborative likeness of Queen Madge were found wheat-pasted on walls of the Meatpacking District in Manhattan. In addition to the album cover, Mr Brainwash produced works for the cover of the “Celebration” DVD cover for the video collection as well as the jacket for its vinyl release. Mr Brainwash’s likeness of Madonna was also in full view of Times Square.
39
40
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
ALBUM COVER
Red Hot Chili Peppers collaborated with Mr Brainwash, recruiting him to promote the release of their album, “I’m With You.” Mr Brainwah was seen wheat-pasting the promotional posters he designed for the band all along the streets of Los Angeles in the Hollywood and Melrose area.
41
42
michael jackson deluxe edition ALBUM COVER
VIBE Magazine, a long time supporter of the late Michael Jackson, collaborated with Mr Brainwash to create an iconic artwork of the deceased King of Pop to use as the digital album cover of “Xscape.� A fold-out poster of the same image was also included in the deluxe edition of the album.
43
44
COLLABORATION WITH KYGO FOR “CLOUD 9” ALBUM COVER January 5, 2016 Mr Brainwash teamed up with world-famous producer and composer Kygo, for his marketing campaign and album cover of his newest “Cloud nine”. The artist designed the album art for Kygo’s new record, Cloud Nine, as well as the poster for his headlining show at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
45
46
47
48