Exit Through the Gift Shop Page #7

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It's before Batman.

It's Bat Papi.

You know, the papi,

it's the father of...

the grandfather of Batman.

You know?

That's who started,

you know?

NARRATOR:

While most artists

work their way up

from small beginnings,

Thierry was determined

that Mr. Brainwash

would arrive with a bang.

The former CBS studio complex

covering 15,000 square feet

in the heart of old Hollywood

had lain empty

for almost a year

until Thierry decided

it would make the perfect venue

for his debut show,

"Life is Beautiful. "

I didn't want

to disappoint Banksy.

I wanted to try

to do something big.

In the end, it's gonna become,

like, a big space

with pictures all around.

I want to make it

more like a show.

Like, there is

a park amusement;

I'm making it

an art amusement.

You know, I change "park"

to "art. "

NARRATOR:
Thierry's plan was

to emulate Banksy's L.A. show

by transforming

the cavernous space

into a street art spectacular

filled not just with paintings

but sculptures

and installations too.

And if he didn't know how to do

any of these things himself,

he could always employ people

who did.

I answered a nondescript ad

looking for sculptors or artists

who could work in papier-mch.

He said he just needed

some things built

and he wanted to know

if I could build him

an eight-foot-tall

spray paint can,

and I said, "Absolutely. "

And he said, "Can you build me

a monster out of TVs?"

and I said, "Sure. "

And then he actually

got us into the space

and had us working

on a day rate

so that he could kind of

keep coming up with projects

and change 'em around.

NARRATOR:

With a growing workforce

and Thierry adding new projects

by the hour,

the scale of his production

was now running far ahead

of the little show

Banksy had suggested.

I was so much focused on it

that I put all my money in it.

Everything that I owned,

I put it in it.

I was refinancing the house.

I was putting my life on...

on the border of losing

everything that I own.

NARRATOR:
And just

when it seemed that the pressure

couldn't get any more intense,

and with his grand opening

now set

for just three weeks away,

disaster struck.

# Go! #

So basically,

this is the... called...

this bone's called

your metatarsal,

and this is the fifth one.

It's all the way

on the side of your foot.

And you fractured it

right through here,

and this piece has been

pulled back a little bit.

- You see that?

- Yeah.

NARRATOR:

Needing an operation,

Thierry was ordered

to slow things down,

and now, under the influence

of pain-numbing drugs,

he at last glimpsed the enormity

of the enterprise

he had embarked upon.

It's just so much work to do,

prices, and...

it's like being an artist

overnight.

You know,

that's what's happening to me.

You know?

I'm nobody.

I never did an exposition

in a gallery, really.

I never show any work anywhere,

and I'm doing this big show,

and it's all... it's all

a make-up kind of way, you know?

I mean, it was all starting

to sound a little bit crazy.

These reports are coming back

saying that Thierry

had found this huge warehouse

and then he'd broken his leg

and it was all kind of going

a little bit wrong.

You know, it sounded like

he needed a little bit of help,

so I rung a few people

that I thought might be able

to help him out.

Like, this room looks cool.

This room looks interesting.

This room looks almost done.

If this room stayed like this,

that's cool, but...

But that's one

out of four, five, six.

That makes the rest

of the rooms look bad.

Myself and my girlfriend, Sonja,

went down there,

and we figured out

what he needed

along with a few

of the show's other producers.

We made lists

of what needed to happen.

What's the capacity

of this place?

I don't know.

Capacity's approximately

gonna be, like, 750 to 800.

Got it.

What about getting...

I was very curious how the hell

he was actually gonna finish it

and pull it off

and realized

he didn't have a clue

of a lot of the final logistics

that needed to happen.

Like I saw in Banksy's show,

mostly, the people

came and came back.

He'd seen people

do big art shows.

He'd been to them

around the world.

He figured, "I want

to do something just as great. "

And the insurance?

The insurance,

we're taking care of.

NARRATOR:

With Roger and the team

now taking care of

the practical arrangements,

Thierry was free to spend time

selecting which

of his many pieces to include

in the show.

Valet parking,

or they just go?

NARRATOR:
But instead,

Thierry busied himself

with a different concern

altogether...

hype.

He asked me

to promote the show for him,

to give him a quote

for a press release,

to send it to my mailing list,

to post it on my website,

and really, to validate

what he was doing.

And I was uncomfortable

with that,

but I said that I would do it.

So then I got a phone call

from Thierry,

or Mr. Brainwash,

as he was now calling himself,

asking if I would give him

a quote to promote his show.

And I didn't think

there was any harm in it,

so I wrote him a sentence,

and I emailed it off.

NARRATOR:
But Banksy

could never have guessed

what Thierry had in mind

for his modest contribution.

So this is gonna be

like a jail.

It's gonna have bars here.

I'm gonna put

some more cans all the way...

NARRATOR:

The endorsements

were immediately picked up

by the media,

and within days,

Thierry was being interviewed

by the editor of the city's

biggest listings magazine,

L.A. Weekly.

The only thing

I want to do in L.A.

is to show that Los Angeles

can have great shows.

You know, it's like

a revolution kind of way.

NARRATOR:
A few days later,

Los Angeles awoke

to discover there was

a new star in town.

MBW was front-page news.

- Okay.

- "Life is Beautiful. "

NARRATOR:
The L.A. Weekly

also reported

Thierry's

promotional brain wave:

the first 200 people

to turn up

would be given a free,

one-of-a-kind screen print.

Do you think that people

is gonna wait and wait

for the 200 free posters

or no?

NARRATOR:
So now Thierry

had to come up with a way

of turning

into unique, collectible

MBW originals.

NARRATOR:

With a crew of 20 people

working around the clock,

the building was at last

beginning to resemble

an art gallery.

But the walls remained bare

because Thierry

still hadn't decided

which paintings

to frame and hang.

So how did you like

L.A. Weekly?

NARRATOR:
Following

all the press coverage,

private collectors

had begun to inquire

about snapping up

MBW pieces ahead of the opening,

giving Thierry his first insight

into the value of his work.

The Campbell's Soup

with multi-ply colors.

Yeah, it's very nice,

this one.

I would say $24,000.

"Scarface," is it a big one?

Okay, cela $30,000.

Prepare me

some canned olive paint.

Just listen to me.

I mean, make them work

to do something.

There is nothing to do there?

There is nothing to do?

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