5 Facts You May Not Know About Mister Brainwash

Mister brainwash, otherwise known as Mr. Brainwash or Thierry Guetta, is a French artist who is well-known for being a street artist. If you are familiar with the Imitate Modern Diary, you may already know a thing or two about this artist. However, in this article, we will indulge you in five interesting facts about Mr Brainwash. 

Let’s Recap: Who is Mr Brainwash? 

French artist Mr Brainwash, Thierry Guetta (B. 1966), grew up in America, specifically in Los Angeles, California. 

He started his career as a videographer and founder of other businesses in the creative space, including a vintage clothing store owner. Mr Brainwash was a successful entrepreneur with an eye for fashion and design. His vintage clothing store expanded from LA to other major cities around the US, including New York and Miami. 

Banksy is also said to play a huge role in influencing Mr Brainwash’s street art career, along with Guetta’s cousin. Much of his online success may also be tied to his personal relationship with international street artist sensation Banksy, and he now has over 1,000,000 loyal followers on his social media who enjoy following his creative journey.  

If you want a deep dive into the man behind the Mister Brainwash art brand, feel free to read our previous diary entry entitled ‘Mr Brainwash, the man behind the art’. 

Mr Brainwash Artist Facts 

• More About Banksy

As mentioned, Banksy and Mister Brainwash share a few parallels. The main cross-over is that Mr Brainwash is featured in Banksy’s documentary ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’. The 2010 documentary showed the artist’s rise to fame and transformation from Thierry Guetta to Mr Brainwash. 

• Charity Work 

Mr Brainwash is always keen to use his talents and passion to help charities and activist causes worldwide. Notably, he has worked on creating a 9/11 memorial piece in collaboration with the LA LGBT Center to commemorate those who lost their lives during the tragedy. 

Additionally, he has partnered with none other than former First Lady Michelle Obama and Pope Francis. Along with help from Obama, he made murals to celebrate the 2016 International Women’s Day and promote education for women. In 2019 he made an exclusive piece for the Vatican celebrating immigration to raise £500,000 for the pontiff’s art foundation.

• Appearance on KUWTK

For those of you who are familiar with the popular reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians, you may be excited to know that Mr Brainwash has been featured on the Kardashians’ hit show. If you want to catch Mr Brainwash’s cameo on the show with the TV royalty stars, you can find his feature on episode 8 of season 11. 

He has also used the core members of the show as models for some of his paintings, which you can view here. 

As well as working with the Kardashians, this street artist from LA also has connections with other Hollywood stars such as Lindsay Lohan, Madonna and Rita Ora. You can read more about his collaborations in our previous diary entry about Mr Brainwash. 

• Criticism 

Of course, with any creative outlet, there will inevitably be people who simply don’t like what another artist is doing. However, Mister Brainwash has been the centre point of a few criticisms. 

For instance, artist Shepard Fairey has spoken about their experience working on joint projects. He stated that sometimes he wanted to hug, and sometimes he preferred to smack Guetta. In an interview by the MBW exhibition, Fairey also said he liked Guetta as a person but wasn’t a fan of his art. 

Banksy has also gone on record in his documentary, saying that he believes Guetta wasn’t made to be a filmmaker. Guetta’s connection to Banksy has also drawn attention to the possibility that he has experienced a rise to fame through planned PR engineering of his street art career. Additionally, art enthusiasts have posted numerous comments saying Mr Brainwash is a ‘Banksy copycat’. However, it is clear that the two street artists’ styles vary tremendously, despite a cross-over in their genres. Although, this is arguable expected since Banksy is one of Mr Brainwash’s biggest inspirations. Mr Brainwash has commented on the similarity comments by claiming himself as Banksy’s ‘biggest work of art’. 

• Net Worth 

According to various news sites, Mr Brainwash is worth anywhere from $10 million to $20 million to a staggering $25 million. With Banksy, one of the best-known street artists, estimated to be worth $50 million, it certainly shows that Mr Brainwash is one of the wealthiest and most successful street artists to emerge in the last few decades. 

Mr Brainwash Art For Sale 

Take a peak at the Imitate Modern digital art gallery to take a look at some of the Mr Brainwash prints for pleasure or for potential new centrepieces in your home or office. As a key representative of this acclaimed street artist, we can connect you with his bespoke pieces, including the Tomato Spray Can in various colours to suit your taste. 

You can also view some more pieces that have been previously made by this artist on the Mr Brainwash website. You will find an explosive video of Thierry Guetta in action creating his pieces and repealing new sculptures to the public, so it is certainly worth checking out. 

Interested in Learning About Contemporary Art? 

If this article has ignited your passion for learning more about established contemporary artists or discovering emerging talents before the mainstream media, the Imitate Modern Diary has everything you need to get started. Read all our diary entries? Check out the Imitate Modern Instagram for more information and visual content from our represented artists at our London gallery.