Banksy in LA

When I saw "Exit Through the Gift Shop" last summer I was blown away. It is an inventive and hilarious documentary as well as a cool primer on street art. Should have won the Oscar if you ask me, but no one's asking. In any event, if you haven't seen "Exit" yet, get off your ass and do so immediately. Honestly, the only bad part about the movie is that your stomach will hurt from laughing so hard after it's over. The reason for this post, though, isn't to promote Banksy's documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop." And Lord knows they don't need any help in that department anyway. The reason for the post is because the documentary became an inspiration for me. After watching "Exit," my first idea was to shoot a music video, so I started searching online for graffiti. Initially, I planned on shooting a music video at the Graff Lab, but when I met Ricky Guerrero and Gloria Farias and some of the others, I knew I had the subject of my next documentary, tentatively titled "To Live and Paint in LA."

The other reason for this post is to share the pictures below. Banksy was in town for the Oscars and evidently hit up this wall just north of San Vincent on La Brea. I had read about this piece in the LA Times, so when I saw this as I was driving along, I pulled over and got some pictures with my Blackberry as well as some video action on my FLIP. The storm trooper camera man is my personal favorite. Enjoy.

I also tracked down the JR piece in Venice Beach on Abbot Kinney. It's pretty sweet as well.