The Meaning Behind Mr Brainwash’s New “Cars Are Beautiful” Exhibition At The Petersen

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY

MR BRAINWASH IS A WHIRLWIND OF ARTISTIC ACTIVITY AS HE LAUNCHES A TWO-YEAR EXHIBIT AT LA’S PETERSEN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM, HITS F1, AND TAKES ON GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS.

BY LAURA SCHREFFLER

PHOTOGRAPHY OLIVIER MASTEY

SHOT ON LOCATION AT THE PETERSEN AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

“Life is Beautiful” is the phrase that has come to define Thierry Guetta. It was the title of his first solo exhibition as pop artist and icon Mr Brainwash in 2008, and it has followed him from the sidewalks of Beverly Hills and Sunset Boulevard to an abandoned warehouse in New York City’s Meatpacking District to the sultry shores of South Beach in Miami and more. It is the phrase that, when coupled with a transcendent turn in the Banksy-directed documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, catapulted him from an unknown street artist into an internationally recognized phenomenon. And I now know his secret — how Monsieur Brainwash manages to maintain such unflagging optimism and a consistently rose-colored view of an imperfect world.

“I think I will be a kid forever,” Guetta declares on a Sunday afternoon from Los Angeles’ Petersen Automotive Museum, where he is putting the final touches on his latest major exhibit, “Cars Are Beautiful: Mr Brainwash @ the Petersen.” At this moment in time, he is a mere week away from its November 23 debut in the museum’s coveted, ground floor Armand Hammer Foundation Gallery. As he roams around the gallery, he continues to speak, saying, “I am 58 years old, and to me, ‘old’ is just a word. Age exists in your heart. You can be 80 years old and be young, just like you can be 30 years old and be old. It’s how you accept life.”

Anyone who knows Guetta knows exactly how he lives his life. How could they not? It’s emblazoned upon every piece of his artwork, and in the gigantic, ever-present smile that his long, dark beard can’t conceal. “My whole life is based on ‘life is beautiful!’ Love is the answer. Never, never, never give up; follow your dream, and keep smiling. This is my way.”

And now, it’s his way or the highway, as it were, given that he’s taken his view on life and applied it to automobiles for the Petersen, a nonprofit organization and museum specializing in automobile history, located in LA’s Miracle Mile neighborhood. “Cars Are Beautiful” focuses on the auto as a subject of contemporary art, highlighting it as a populist symbol of American life; a machine that ignites the imagination and sparks joy, complete with art-inspired vehicles, specially created pieces, and auto-focused paintings and sculptures. It’s going to bring some fun and whimsy to the hyper-focused museum for the next two years; a true coup.

And Guetta definitely had fun (as he always does) crafting large-scale replicas of Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini supercars. “I like giant things,” he explains, “because when I’m next to them, I become a little kid. I’m small in this large room, with these big objects.”

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY

He slowly walks around the space, giving me the grand tour. I still see the glee in his eyes behind his dark-lensed sunglasses as he pauses to puff from a vape. There is a car bed in a Van Gogh-inspired room, and a Batmobile, driven by Pablo Picasso. Car Tower is stacked with a Porsche at the base, representing Brainwash himself, then a Mercedes-Benz that pays homage to Van Gogh; a Ferrari rests on top, representing the “pinnacle of aspiration and speed.”

There is The Thinkcar, a Mr Brainwash interpretation of the iconic Thinker sculpture by Auguste Rodin; a furry Fiat; a cardboard Bugatti; Big Little Car, a nostalgic piece scaled up to 10 feet tall; Brainwashed, which transforms a Fiat into a life-sized, interactive toybox; Model Kit F1-1, a colossal version of an F1 model kit that brings the tradition of model building to life at full scale; Dream Car, a single car sculpture divided into four sections, each representing a different luxury auto brand in Mercedes-Benz, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Ferrari; and Tired Victory, a reinterpretation of the iconic Greek sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace, among others.

It isn’t so surprising that Guetta would choose to join forces with the Petersen in this way: cars have long had a constant presence in his work. Earlier this year, he unveiled a Bentley Bentayga at London’s Clarendon Fine Art that he had transformed into a beaux arts piece featuring famous faces, monkeys, and Renaissance paintings, with his signature ‘Life is Beautiful’ slogan emblazoned in neon pink on its tailgate. In 2023, he created and installed a full-scale sculpture of a 1973 Porsche Carrera RS 2.7 inside a Matchbox toy packaging as part of the Petersen’s “We are Porsche” exhibit, and, when opening his own museum in 2022, stacked a red Ferrari 250 GTO, a silver Mercedes 300 SLR, and a green Porsche 911 Carrera RS on its exterior. He also displayed a life-sized race car sculpture in the super-VIP Bellagio Fountain Club during this year’s Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix.

His love and use of vehicles in art has an easy explanation. “A car takes you on the road, on an adventure,” he says. “It takes you from A to B. It’s your future; it can take you to the next step of your life. You can walk through life, but not for so long, and not that fast, so the idea of the auto is a little bit magic to me. I’m not a crazy car guy or anything, but I think that cars, like everything else, are beautiful.”

Especially those at the Petersen, a museum he’s long wished to work with. “I came to the museum when I was younger, and I’d look at these cars in a dreamy kind of way, knowing that I could never afford them. But that was then! Today, I’m part of the museum. Like, how did this happen?” he marvels guilelessly, sharing, “When I first came to Los Angeles almost 40 years ago, I could only dream about this kind of day, this kind of exhibit, seeing all these beautiful cars on display. I never imagined that I would be able to do an exhibit here one day, that I would show my work in one of the biggest car museums in the world. I feel so honored to be part of its history. This is a big moment in my life.”

Guetta has always lived his life in a large, over-the-top way, to the fullest, and as such, his career highs are considerable. Take his start in art as the perfect example: he was cherry-picked by the great yet elusive graffiti artist Banksy to be the subject of the 2010 Academy Award-nominated documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, earning him instant fame and notoriety (and not just for being one of the rare few to know Banksy’s true identity, either). He has designed album covers for stars like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Rick Ross, and Kygo, has been featured in films and television productions such as Molly’s Game, Billions, Shameless, and The Kardashians, and partnered with big-name brands like Hublot, Coca-Cola, and Marvel Comics. There was the time that he privately met with Pope Francis in Rome to raise funds for Scholas, the Pope’s personal foundation to serve the youth of the world, or when the entire city of Atlanta commissioned him to create Atlanta is Beautiful in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons. And then there came his recent pièce de résistance: the Mr Brainwash Art Museum, which became the only contemporary art museum in the world run by a living artist when it opened in the Richard Meier-designed former Paley Center for Media space in Beverly Hills two years ago this month.

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY

The art in the museum is as wild and entertaining as he himself is. There’s an iconic image of a mask-wearing Mona Lisa, a welcoming piece intended to remind viewers that, well, life is beautiful — even during unpredictable times; Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh dine with Superman in Edward Hopper’s Nighthawk; there’s a replica of Van Gogh’s Bedroom In Arles that guests can sit in; a Star Wars room, complete with full-scale Storm Troopers and a light box centered around a Sith; and, of course, a Banksy tribute in Enter Through the Museum, a not-so-subtle nod to Exit Through the Gift Shop. In the two years since it’s opened, the museum has added another four installations, four immersive paintings inspired by Munch, Lichtenstein, Dali, and Magritte.

Guetta’s joie de vivre is palpable here, but the museum isn’t just fun and whimsical —it also tells his story. How he consistently pushed the envelope of contemporary art, using elements from pop art’s past, using the raw components of his street art beginnings to create larger-than-life exhibitions and collaborations. How he still incorporates a sense of playfulness and wonder across a variety of mediums, including murals, printmaking, stenciling, painting, and sculpture.

The Mr Brainwash Art Museum does not tell the whole story of Thierry Guetta, of course. It only shares his work as an artist — not the past that shaped him. He certainly isn’t hiding it — it is laid bare for anyone who chooses to delve into his history; how he grew up in the small, impoverished suburb of Garges-lès-Gonesse, France, just outside of Paris, as the youngest of five children. How he and his siblings had nothing to speak of, no material wealth, and even less so after the unforeseen death of his mother when he was only nine years old. There is no evidence to suggest how difficult life was when Guetta, who moved to Los Angeles as a teenager, struggled in school, barely able to speak English. But still, he was happy, which was a rarity among his peers, and it propelled him to success in the Hollywood nightclub scene as well as vintage retail. Later, he got married, had a son, became Mr Brainwash, and inspired Banksy… among other things. His story is still being written, and will continue to be so, he says, until he takes his last breath.

“You know what? I like life itself more than everything,” he declares. “I’m thankful for being able to wake up every day and to have one day more to live my life — and that’s why I live it one day at a time.”

Everything that has come to him has been organic, but he’s worked for it. His success did not happen overnight, nor by magic. It was done with hard work, drive, determination, belief, that inherent Brainwash happiness, and also, perhaps, a little bit of something else.

“I’ve been very humble — which, by the way, is not a word that typically comes out of my mouth — and what I mean by that is that I’m normal and like to work hard. And I have worked hard for these last 16 years, from my first show to the movie, to now. [Because of the success I’ve had] I believe that anything is possible. Even if you make a [mistake], you become a better person, because you’re learning about life. And I use every day to try to become a better person. So, my last words of advice are these: anything you do in life, do it to the fullest, and do it with heart. Because at the end of the day, this is what makes you feel alive, and feel important. You need to believe in yourself and realize there is nothing you cannot do — but you do need to work to make it happen. Nothing in life should be completely easy, but if you’re patient, and you do it with passion, then it really isn’t hard anymore. This is what my life is all about: it’s about giving and it’s about passion, and I will never stop being that way until the end.”

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY

He rests his hand atop his signature felt fedora momentarily, and scratches his peppery beard, before marveling, “I’m the first artist in the world to have his own museum. How? Because I didn’t want to wait; I wanted to just do it. Many wait until they’re dead to be in a museum, but I wanted to do it while I was alive, to take that risk, because I want to show how I live my life to the fullest, to inspire people.”

This is the intention behind another recent undertaking, creating the world’s largest dual-sided rotating puzzle cube mosaic image, a collaboration with Rubik’s Cube for its 50^th anniversary that occurred on November 23. The monumental event, certified by Guinness World Records, took place at an exclusive red-carpet gala at Avèle Galerías de la Marina in Cap Cana. The mosaic showcased a captivating tribute to the Rubik’s Cube’s vast cultural impact and to the Dominican Republic, featuring a vibrant and intricate design inspired by Cap Cana and the country’s rich culture and beauty. With almost 10,000 cubes used in its construction, the double-sided mosaic surpassed 300 square feet, making it the largest ever created.

“This [installation with Rubik’s Cube] is a revolution; it’s part of history. I love being part of things like this, like the Petersen, making history —  because my legacy is very important to me. And I think about that. I think about how, even after the end of my life, this passion will continue, because I’ve already prepared for it. I’ve had this plan to make life beautiful not just for me, but for everyone. We are all diamonds, but sometimes you have to learn how to polish something to make it shine.”

And shine he does — or beam, really, which is what his smile feels like: sunshine. He’s got the energy of 10 people, and the drive to match. “It isn’t going to stop,” he promises. “I’m going to keep pushing myself. I don’t even know how I do all of these things, but I make it happen. I’m setting a world record with Guinness, opening this exhibit, and displaying at F1, all in the same week. I guess I like to live my life under tension, but that’s how you get things done. You work at nights, like I did yesterday. I stayed here until 4 a.m. and tonight is going to be the same thing.”

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY

After his monster week, he’ll head to London, and then potentially to Miami for Art Basel, where he’s activated in the past with exhibitions like the 2010 pop-up “Life is Beautiful: Under Construction,” which consisted of Storm Troopers looking out on various floors of the building, housing works on all types of mediums, and a 2015 collaboration with Swiss timepiece brand Hublot to guest-curate the visual merchandising of its Miami Design District boutique.

With so many projects, his life a constant whirlwind, it’s not so much a question of what or when he’ll do something next, but how. “I’m going to go deeper,” he explains, noting, “Sometimes, I’m so in my head that I cannot speak to people; they cannot understand me. My brain doesn’t stop. I sleep two, three hours a day. Even when I’m dead tired, and my body tells me now it’s time to lie down, my head is still saying now it’s time to get to work. Sometimes I have to take a sleeping pill because I wouldn’t be able to quiet my head otherwise.”

“Quiet” is not the word that comes to mind when I think of Mr Brainwash or Thierry Guetta, but even someone with endless amounts of energy, whose life is so technicolor brilliant, needs to relax at some point.

“I’m close to 60; in January, I’ll be 59. I’m wrapping up one moment of my life, and from 60 to 70 is going to be another,” he says. But, as is in his nature, he seems excited about his next chapter — mostly because, as usual, he has big plans for it, and those include bringing it back to the start: Exit Through the Gift Shop. He shares that for the project’s 15^th anniversary in 2025, he’s planning on creating a series in its honor. But whether its elusive director will be taking part is a mystery that only Mr Brainwash has the answer to. [“That will be the surprise,” he says with a smile.] And regardless of what that chapter ends up looking like, he knows this much to be true. “I want to work hard and to do whatever it is that I need to do, so that one day, I can be free to do only the things that I love. Later in life, I’ll do one show a year. That will be it. I don’t want to fight to create the life I want; I want to be smart, and to enjoy it.”

Just like he has — and currently is — working hard seems to fuel his desire to succeed… or his drive to survive, as it were. “I really feel like I’m just warming up, that this is only the beginning,” he admits, noting, “And sometimes I’m like, Thierry, slow down. It’s OK. But it’s like I’m a kid — you give him two or three pieces of candy, and he wants to take five. He wants to save it for later. So, he puts those candies in his pocket until his pocket is full. That’s the same way that I do projects: I take them all because I don’t want to say no; it’s just the way I am. And sometimes, there are things that you think you cannot do, but those are the things you want to do most. So, I just keep going, like a Duracell battery. But at least I know my battery is still working, because the passion is still there. And when you have that passion, life really is beautiful.”

And who would know that better than Mr Brainwash?

Photo Credit: OLIVIER MASTEY