For those smart enough to have checked out the PSFK NY Conference Friday, they were treated with an early screening of Exit Through The Gift Shop – A Banksy Film. Here’s a couple quick notes about what I saw and why fans of street art should view it. First off it’s a film, not a documentary so all aspects of truth have to be viewed with those expectations in mind. What wasn’t faked was actually seeing stuff being made and placed on streets, walls and with Shepard Fairey in a Kinkos shop. Other blue chip street artists seen in the film include Space Invader and Mr Brainwash among a couple other familiar faces.

For better or in my pov worse, most of the film takes place in LA. While the film shows a lot of coverage of Banksy’s show in LA with the pink elephant, there’s no mention of his Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill in NY nor his main stage show in Bristol. The film focuses in a lot of areas so I wondered why the omissions? Car culture is okay but street art makes more impact when seen via feet then sitting down.

Now that I’ve seen Exit Through the Gift Shop, I visited 415 W. 13th Street to see Mr. Brainwash ICONS. There’s some great detail of the show from Tokyohanna when she saw it last month. The show is still up though I’m not sure how long it will be up. I’m guessing a couple more weeks at least.

And since we’re talking about street art, have you seen anything new lately? I haven’t for quite some time. I asked this question to Beyond the Street The 100 Leading Figures in Urban Art editor Patrick Nguyen (a book I’m really interested in reading once it comes out) about the trend. His email response was this “Regarding new street art, much of it in London was based in the East End, especially the Shoreditch, Hoxton and Brick Lane areas. It’s still going on, but it’s less dynamic than it used to be. This seems to be due to a variety of reasons, including the economic downturn and drop in art prices — which has meant there are fewer people putting stuff up primarily for the purpose of advertising upcoming shows and releases of artwork for sale. Buffing is also happening more quickly now, but that’s been the case ever since London was awarded the 2012 Olympics. One thing I can see becoming popular here again is tagging — a more back-to-basics approach, and a reaction to both the gentrification of the streets and the crossover many street artists have made to the gallery scene.”

Just some things to consider as you see the film. And until you see it in a theater there’s always the Banksy YouTube channel…