Mr. Brainwash Has BIG Love For LA ~ (From All of Los Angeles 'THANK YOU')

M&F just got off the phone after an hour long talk with Mr. Brainwash where he clarifies his reasons for doing the show in LA, the Red Hot Chili Peppers campaign, and a lot of the issues that happened with Art Show 2011.

We've said it before, and will say it again--a lot of people might not like some things he does, but if you talk to him, his positive energy is infectious. It is nearly impossible to not like the guy as a person and admire what he is doing.

And Mr. Brainwash has mad love for LA~



For those who have never met him, the Mr. Brainwash mantra is to make world a more beautiful place. He does it with his artwork, and he does it with his life.

Mr. Brainwash is at the top of the art world game. He could do shows on his own, rack in bushels of money, and laugh all the way to the top of an exclusive ivory tower. But he doesn't. Mr. Brainwash goes out of his way to use his leverage to bring people together. MBW loves LA, and the whole goal of 'Art Show 2011' was to bring people together, encourage people to do art, and to host it in Los Angeles so that he could give back to MBW's home city, LA.

Sure, there were issues with some organizational things and the show being rushed, but the fact is no one has ever done anything like this before. Nobody has ever MBW has taken street art, which is essentially a stealth individual exercise, like hunting, and made it a community event. Nothing has ever been done like this on this level, and it history will acknowledge it.

And people might not like the effect of MBW's actions, like with the Red Hot Chili Peppers campaign, for which Brainwash took a lot of heat for earlier in the year--but his heart always seems to be in the right place. Mr. Brainwash explainted that what happened with the RHCP posters is that he was in discussions with Warner Bros. to do the cover for the album, along with a street campaign. But the record company balked at the street campaign, both for legal reasons and because they didn't think it would be as powerful as getting arguably the biggest artist in the world, Damien Hirst, to design the album cover. Mr. Brainwash took offense to this, and so to prove a point that street art is powerful, he took his RHCP campaign to the streets. He was never paid for it, and alluded that after Warner saw what he had done they approached him to collaborate, but MBW had just wanted to prove a point.

As for the capping went down when the posters went up, Mr. Brainwash said that he had hired some folks to put up his posters for him. But after seeing what they did and the way they capped a lot of artists, he said he learned his lesson and would never hire other people to put up things with his name on it. Mr. Brainwash also said LA is a big place with plenty of space, and there is no need for him, or any other artists, to cap each other.

LA is a big place, and so is the world. Mr. Brainwash also said that this is the last show he will be doing in LA for awhile. He said the world is big, and he plans to do big things worldwide, but that 'Art Show 2011' was something he wanted to do for his home city of Los Angeles. He almost sounded a little bitter saying this was the last show in LA, and who can blame him. He has worked so hard to do something nice for the community, something that doesn't directly benefit him, at least not the way a personal show would, and he has received a lot of grief and complaints in return. We just want to say that 'Art Show 2011' was amazing, and thank Thierry for putting it on. Sure, there are always a few haters who yell louder than the rest of the better behaved masses, and you can never please everyone, but most of LA realizes what was done, and despite the imperfections, appreciates it hugely.

From all of Los Angeles, 'THANK YOU!' for making life, and LA, more beautiful ~