Artist Thierry Guetta, known by the pseudonym Mr. Brainwash, has earned a worldwide following for his provocative works. His magical mashup of street and pop art was the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” and his collaborations range from album covers for Madonna to partnerships with brands such as Hublot, Coca-Cola and Marvel Comics. A longtime advocate and philanthropist, Mr. Brainwash has created work in support of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and murals honoring the victims of 9/11 in New York, and has partnered with Product RED to raise AIDS awareness. His charitable collaborations include meetings with former First Lady Michelle Obama in support of her organization, Let Girls Learn, and with Pope Francis in Rome to raise funds for Scholas, the Pope’s personal foundation to support youth worldwide. For this HOPE Balloon edition, Mr. Brainwash wanted to make “a balloon that represents America all together,” he shares of his inspiration for the work. “It’s love; it’s heart – the whole [country] together, and we’re not going to give up. We’re going to make it happen, and we’re going to fight for it. We’re going to win because we have hope.” The Hold on to Hope works were produced in oil on canvas in an edition of 5 to raise funds for Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund at a charity auction in the Hamptons in 2020. The works all had a minimum asking price of $20,000.

International Shooting Star – Mr. Brainwash

Hardly any other street art artist has experienced such a rapid rise as the Frenchman Thierry Guetta aka Mr. Brainwash (미스터 브레인워시), born in Garges-lès-Gonesse in 1966. His path to becoming the most successful artist of recent years is closely linked to the name Banksy and his Oscar-winning film Exit Through the Gift Shop: In this documentary Banksy encourages the then still unknown Guetta to become active as an artist himself under the pseudonym Mr. Brainwash. The rumor persists that the Frenchman Brainwash is a purely fictional person invented by Banksy and that his works are actually created by Banksy.

Like many Urban Art and Street Art artists, Mr. Brainwash uses well-known motifs like celebrities or comic icons and combines them with his very own signature messages of positivity: “Love is the Answer”, “Life is Beautiful” or “Follow Your Dreams”. The main motif is sprayed as a stencil with acrylic paint, whereas the background is composed differently as a collage or with mixed media. Old snippets from comic books, vintage brochures and other stencils let the viewer discover new details again and again.