But the uncomfortable question persists: Is it real? In alternating interviews, the two recount the rise of anti-establishment vandals into the upper echelons of the art world, where their work quickly became commodified. Brainwash, a street artist phenomenon whose coming-out party in Los Angeles made him an instant — if completely derivative — success, and whose art now sells in the six figures. Is Guetta — who shot much of the footage — actually a paid actor playing a savant-like character invented for the project?
Or, as some have speculated, is he Banksy himself? Banksy has insisted the film is completely true. They are also consistent with the accounts of friends, former business associates and employees over those years. Of course, it is impossible to prove whether his latest incarnation, Mr. Brainwash, is sincere. His mother died when he was a child, and when Guetta was 15, his father moved the family to Los Angeles. Public records show his Social Security number was registered in the early s.
His father soon returned to France and passed away, leaving Guetta and his siblings to fend for themselves. He attended Fairfax High for about a year, despite speaking no English. After dropping out, he said he started organizing nightclub parties in Hollywood that became popular with the celebrity set. He also got a job at a vintage clothing store in Venice, starting out on a ladder to keep an eye out for shoplifters.
But he showed up early and stayed late, was promoted to manager and eventually bought out the owner, he said. Between and the late s, records show Guetta launched a series of businesses with names such as Vintage Supermarket and Rugsaver: The Vintage Shop, his store on La Brea.
Guetta said he imported cheap used clothes from France and repackaged them as designer vintage, occasionally selling them as templates to high-end designers like Ralph Lauren. He and his brothers also began designing clothes, sewing scraps of jeans into jackets and finishing them with Looney Tunes characters cut out of beach towels. Eventually, Warner Bros. But rather than shut them down, Guetta said, the company hired them. The story was confirmed by Warner Brothers, whose consumer products executives recall employing the Guetta brothers to design products sold in the Warner Bros.
