Spray Cans

Thierry Guetta—better known by his moniker Mr. Brainwash—began his career as a filmmaker, documenting the world’s most prominent street artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey as they snuck out at night with their spray cans to graffiti public spaces. When Mr. Brainwash started making street art himself, he paid homage to the act of graffiti by painting portraits of spray cans. Mr. Brainwash’s spray cans are often mashups, mixing together recognizable brand labels like Hershey’s chocolate or Heinz ketchup with the paint canister. Perhaps most popular are his spray cans incorporating the Campbell’s Soup logo—a reference to Andy Warhol’s iconic silkscreens of the mass-produced food item. Mr. Brainwash has even turned empty spray cans into sculptures, by painting and silkscreening directly onto their metal surfaces.