- Jonathan Blow creator of Braid
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Exit Through the Gift Shop, directed by Banksy in 2010, follows video artist turned overnight graffiti millionaire, Thierry Guetta. Obsessed with capturing every moment of his life, Thierry's hand was glued to his camcorder. In the early 2000s Thierry visited family in France, a cousin going by the name Invader, would soon become a popular graffiti artist in Paris, famous for his space invader mosaics. From the moment he began filming Invader's process, Thierry became obsessed with filming graffiti artists, and went home to LA to follow Shepard Fairey, and Banksy. He logged so many hours of video, he would surely have made a documentary about Banksy and the whole movement. Unfortunately Thierry was incapable of organizing his thoughts, let alone his unfathomable amount of tapes. That's when Banksy took the reigns and documented Thierry.
Exit Through the Gift Shop, documents Thierry's journey from graffiti super fan, to carbon copy graffiti star. Thierry studied these artists with a microscope, and absorbed every detail, to the point where his own art could be judged as hacky. In a matter of months Thierry, going by the monaker Mr. Brainwash, put on a huge warehouse art show a la Banksy's Barely Legal, called Life Is Beautiful. He found a formula for success that took the other graffiti artists decades to accomplish. But is that impressive? Banksy noted in the film, "He's kind of the rightful air to Andy Warhol... Andy Warhol made a statement by repeating famous icons till they became meaningless, but he was extremely iconic in the way that he did it. And Thierry really made them meaningless."
Brigid's addictive and obsessive personality takes on many forms. The list runs the gamut from over-eating (she describes herself as a bottomless pit) which must be curbed by strict meal portioning and scheduling, obsessive cleaning and organizing; her drug use in the 60s and 70s; audio taping every phone conversation; taking hundreds of Polaroids; and obsessive journal keeping. The best journal/sketchbook being the "Cock Book" in which many famous artists and actors drew penises in a thick blank bible Brigid was hell-bent on filling to completion. It doesn't matter if she's eating 50 key lime pies, or weighing her lettuce; Brigid must live with extremes.
Pie in the Sky paints a portrait of Brigid by piecing together the portrait she made of herself. From the start of her time in Andy Warhol's factory, Brigid has been creating a never-ending autobiography. Her childhood traumas and frustrations, can be heard in the taped telephone recordings of her socialite mother. Brigid would do one woman shows where she would telephone her mother onstage to the audience's delight, and her mother's embarrassment. The best parts of this film are when Brigid impersonates her mother; doing an improvised (or most likely memorized) monologue of Honey Berlin, who berated Brigid about her lifestyle choices.
Brigid's art is the definition of raw vulnerability. She has a drive to show the whole world her naked self, whether figuratively or literally.
What defines an "indie" video game is summed up in the personal vision. These are programmers who abhor the idea of working for a major company. They would much rather release their own concepts, even if that means working with a team of two programmers and enveloping your life with coding. When you don't have the same team that Nintendo has, you sacrifice your social life, and to a degree, your sanity. However, indie game designers can then base games on personal interests, beliefs, theories, and even subconscious fears without anyone to curb them.
When asked what he would do if his game, Fez, (three years in the making) failed, Fish said, "I would kill myself... That's my incentive to finish it; is that I can then not kill myself." These individuals are creating what they consider to be an ultimate art. Their video games are visually appealing, the story lines are powerful, and their cleverness is inspiring. Depression is not uncommon in this world. Failed projects are of course crushing, but surprisingly, depression as a result of successful projects is also possible. As proven with Jonathan Blow, his game Braid was extremely successful and received many accolades, but the critics did not recognize the meaning behind the game Blow intended. Blow felt isolated and misunderstood, as if his work was done for naught. Putting their souls into this creates a vulnerable situation for these programmers. That makes their games subject to heavier criticism; and when the whole company is you, the setbacks are much more monumental. Undeniably the vulnerability adds something relatable and charming.
I want to celebrate artists who make their art their life and vice versa. Those of you who take your insides and throw them to the sharks, you are appreciated.
Pie In The Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story
Speaking of Andy Warhol; his socialite muse, Brigid Berlin, who is often over-looked as a key figure in Warhol's success, embodies obsessive consumption and production. Pie In The Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story, directed by Shelly Dunn Fremont and Vincent Fremont in 2001, utilizes old movie footage from the Berlin home, Warhol's films, testimonials from aging Factory regulars, and riveting interviews with Brigid as she is today (over 10 years ago at this point).Brigid's addictive and obsessive personality takes on many forms. The list runs the gamut from over-eating (she describes herself as a bottomless pit) which must be curbed by strict meal portioning and scheduling, obsessive cleaning and organizing; her drug use in the 60s and 70s; audio taping every phone conversation; taking hundreds of Polaroids; and obsessive journal keeping. The best journal/sketchbook being the "Cock Book" in which many famous artists and actors drew penises in a thick blank bible Brigid was hell-bent on filling to completion. It doesn't matter if she's eating 50 key lime pies, or weighing her lettuce; Brigid must live with extremes.
Pie in the Sky paints a portrait of Brigid by piecing together the portrait she made of herself. From the start of her time in Andy Warhol's factory, Brigid has been creating a never-ending autobiography. Her childhood traumas and frustrations, can be heard in the taped telephone recordings of her socialite mother. Brigid would do one woman shows where she would telephone her mother onstage to the audience's delight, and her mother's embarrassment. The best parts of this film are when Brigid impersonates her mother; doing an improvised (or most likely memorized) monologue of Honey Berlin, who berated Brigid about her lifestyle choices.
Brigid's art is the definition of raw vulnerability. She has a drive to show the whole world her naked self, whether figuratively or literally.
Indie Game: The Movie
Directed by Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky in 2012, Indie Game: The Movie may seem like a curve ball in this list, but it's themes define the set. Even the quote at the top of the page is from this documentary. In Indie Game we meet the creators of Super Meat Boy, Edmund McMillens and Tommy Refenes; Fez, Phil Fish; and Braid, Jonathan Blow. Though the games they create are very unique to each other, they share a similar story of passion, masterful creation, and unbelievable stress.What defines an "indie" video game is summed up in the personal vision. These are programmers who abhor the idea of working for a major company. They would much rather release their own concepts, even if that means working with a team of two programmers and enveloping your life with coding. When you don't have the same team that Nintendo has, you sacrifice your social life, and to a degree, your sanity. However, indie game designers can then base games on personal interests, beliefs, theories, and even subconscious fears without anyone to curb them.
When asked what he would do if his game, Fez, (three years in the making) failed, Fish said, "I would kill myself... That's my incentive to finish it; is that I can then not kill myself." These individuals are creating what they consider to be an ultimate art. Their video games are visually appealing, the story lines are powerful, and their cleverness is inspiring. Depression is not uncommon in this world. Failed projects are of course crushing, but surprisingly, depression as a result of successful projects is also possible. As proven with Jonathan Blow, his game Braid was extremely successful and received many accolades, but the critics did not recognize the meaning behind the game Blow intended. Blow felt isolated and misunderstood, as if his work was done for naught. Putting their souls into this creates a vulnerable situation for these programmers. That makes their games subject to heavier criticism; and when the whole company is you, the setbacks are much more monumental. Undeniably the vulnerability adds something relatable and charming.
I want to celebrate artists who make their art their life and vice versa. Those of you who take your insides and throw them to the sharks, you are appreciated.
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