Biography

Mr. Brainwash often abbreviated to MBW is a name used by Los Angeles-based filmmaker and street artist Thierry Guetta who was born in Garges les Gonesse, France, in 1967. Guetta’s uniformly subversive style fuses historic pop imagery and contemporary cultural iconography to create his version of a pop–graffiti art hybrid first popularized by other street artists. Working primarily with layers of screenprint and stencilled images, his compositions are emblematic of a graffiti wall inundated with 20th century iconography. He is both sly and playful in his juxtaposition of the cultural idols of the past (Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe) with the icons of today (Kate Moss, Madonna). The vibrant palette and imitation of pop artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring add a puckish wink. To add to his intentionally derivative persona, Guetta uses a special signature and authentication on all of his artworks. All unique MBW artworks have his mantra “Life is Beautiful”, his thumbprint, hand-signature, and assigned dollar bill number sequence.