If you like pop art, you will definitely like the works of Thierry Guetta, best known by his moniker Mr. Brainwash. Born in France and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 15. I recently visited his pop-up exhibit in Beverly Hills where the Paley Center for Media was previously housed. The exhibit was packed where visitors were taking selfies and multitude of poses for social media, including me (ha ha ha). And yes, the whole exhibit is very IG-friendly.
This wasn’t the first time I encountered his art work. In 2020 during the pandemic, there was a big buzz about his collaboration with Los Angeles magazine. Guetta designed two covers for Los Angeles‘ 2020 Best of L.A. issue. One of them was a mural on La Brea Avenue. The mural was an amalgamation of visuals and slogans that reflect LA stories. I was fortunate to see the mural in person.
Fast forward 2023, I visited the Mr. Brainwash Art Museum. If you are driving Beverly Drive, you will notice three cars standing with the colors red, silver and green at the façade of the building. So, you can’t miss it. As I entered the museum, I noticed a bevy of individuals circling this man and waiting to get a photo-op with him. I was thinking could that be Mr. Brainwash since I never met him? I was right. It was him. How lucky was I to meet him in person, have a photo-op with my family and get to interview him even for just a bit. He was very personable and graciously agreed to be interviewed.
Ruchel: What do you think of the crowd here in your museum?
Mr. Brainwash: I think everybody is happy. Everybody is having fun, enjoying. I feel like I work hard to try to give as much love. And I guess the love is going through and everybody’s happy to be in a space with over a thousand people together and everybody’s smiling. I’m very thankful about that.
Ruchel: Why is the museum open only on Sundays, just once a week.
Mr. Brainwash: I’m still working on it and everything. It is a museum that is alive and so I always work on it. For example there are rooms that just opened this week. I’m still continuing and soon I will be opening more days.
Ruchel: Can you say something to your future visitors?
Mr. Brainwash: Come over and feel the vibe. There is something that you will see in Beverly Hills at the Brainwash Museum that you won’t see anything else in the world.
And just to give you little highlights of the Mr. Brainwash Art Museum, the ground floor is my favorite section? Why, I call it the gargantuan 80s section. When you enter you’ll see stacks of books use as a counter and the backdrop is made of old boobtubes. On the right is a stack of cassettes/boombox. Empty spray cans are used as an ornament like hanging light fixtures. Then as you walk in the corner you’ll find everything oversized from the 80s/90s mac, to a colossal boombox to a dinosaur that’s made up of book covers. The second floor consist of different versions of Mona Lisa paintings and other parody famous paintings like Nighthawks. On the third floor Mr. Brainwash showcases his love for graffiti cars.
If you love art in general, I strongly recommend to visit the Mr. Brainwash Art Museum and if you like street contemporary art, it’s a no brainer. Mr. Brainwash mantra is to spread happiness through his art and the power of positivity.
For details about time, tickets and location, click here.
Special thanks to Chirel.
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