"Are we happy or sad if exit through the gift shop wins? #obeygiant" - Shepard Fairey

"Earlier [in January] I noted that Banksy had finally spoken about the artist Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash) profiled in his now Oscar nominated film Exit Through the Gift Shop . Still, suspicions run fairly rampant that he either doesn't exist or is merely the latest prank creation by Banksy. Guetta has now given sworn statements that the artwork is his own, as he's the subject of a copyright lawsuit initiated by photographer Glen E. Friedman. The two Run DMC images above should make that fairly obvious (as well as several others after the jump).

Friedman is arguing that Guetta used, without credit or permission, his iconic photo of Run DMC on invitations, artworks, merchandise and promotional materials. The Hollywood Reporter broke this story, connected some of the dots between many of the people involved, and then suggested it's basically the same situation as the Associated Press vs. Shepard Fairey case surrounding the Obama 'Hope' image. It's not, and for number of reasons which I'll get to in a second..." [Boing Boing]

That said, the real human who is known as Mr. Brainwash made an appearance Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards where "Exit" won best documentary, and he will be at the Oscars, but the LA Times says...

The big question as of Sunday morning remained whether Banksy himself would show up to the Oscars. On the red carpet before the [Independent Spirit Awards], Guetta engaged in some playfulness. "We'll see. This is like the movie: Can we explain the movie? No. Can we know that the movie is real or not? No. Can we know if he's going to show up? I don't know."

But then he also said that, indeed, he and the reclusive street artist could have a plan. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know," he said, offering a coy smile.

By the way, Exit Through the Gift Shop is on Netflix on-demand.

The Washington Post talked to Thierry on the ISA red carpet too. That interview and other videos (including Exit Through The Pet Shop), below....

Continue reading "Mr. Brainwash (possibly real) being sued, was at Independent Spirit Awards, will be at the Oscars (but will Banksy?)"

2008 Independent Spirit Award Winners:

Best Feature: Juno
Best Director: Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Male Lead: Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
Best Female Lead: Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Male: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk To Me
Best Supporting Female: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Best Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Best Foreign Film: Once
Best Documentary: Crazy Love
Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best First Screenplay: Diablo Cody, Juno
Best First Feature: The Lookout
Robert Altman Award: Todd Haynes, Laura Rosenthal and the cast of I'm Not There
John Cassavetes Award: August Evening
Truer Than Fiction Award: The Unforeseen, Laura Dunn
Producers Award: Neil Kopp, Paranoid Park, Old Joy
Someone to Watch Award: Ramin Bahrani, Chop Shop

Continue reading "Kimya Dawson played, Juno & Once won, @ the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards"