Mr. Brainwash

THE AESTHETE

MR. BRAINWASH

Street Artist

photographed by CORINA MARIE at MR. BRAINWASH MUSEUM (formerly the Paley Center)

THE CAREER of French-born, L.A.-based Thierry Guetta, aka Mr. Brainwash, traces the gilded path forged by Bansky, his fellow guerilla artist and aesthetic mentor: establish street cred with a freewheeling style heavy on cultural appropriation, and the galleries will follow. Many of Guetta’s signature works are built around anodyne memes—“Follow your dreams,” “Love is the answer”—juxtaposed with frantic collages attended by random pop-cultural totems like Mickey and Minnie Mouse. (His cover for the August 2020 issue of this magazine remains one of our most celebrated.) Guetta’s rise from the streets is chronicled in Bansky’s 2010 documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. “Banksy captured me becoming an artist; in the end, I became his biggest work of art.” —M.W.