The idea of brainwashing is something that the buoyant, boyish 55-year-old Guetta refers to often. Indeed, it is why he has taken it as his nom de spray-can. The street artist and videographer, who is better known as Mr Brainwash, was propelled to international fame a little over a decade ago while making a documentary directed by Banksy, the British street artist. Banksy turned the camera on Guetta, and his Oscar-nominated Exit Through the Gift Shop made him a household name overnight. At least, in those households that see graffiti as more than a blight on the urban landscape. 

“I want to brainwash in a positive way,” says the French-born, Los Angeles-based artist, who is opening a “museum” of his works in a Richard Meier-designed building on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills in spring 2022. “I think love is the answer,to try to build and not to destroy, to share… There’s a world out there in need, and you need to help as much as possible, by getting better and better at what you do, and so growing. [That’s a process] that never ends.”

   If this approach sounds a little free-spirited for these cynical times, well, that’s just how you would describe Guetta. It is reflected in his art – bold, fun, irreverent and frequently referencing his art heroes, including Warhol, Van Gogh and the Impressionists – and relentlessly positive, often daubed with his signature ‘Life is Beautiful’ mantra.

   It is a positivity that has reaped rich rewards, too. The artist is reputed to have made a lot of money over the past decade, both through art sales to Hollywood collectors – unusually, he has no agent, no PR, no fixed gallery representation – and collaborations with the likes of Coca-Cola and Nike. He has also created album cover work for Madonna and Michael Jackson, among others, and even been approached to work on charitable projects for the foundations of Pope Francis as well as Michelle Obama, the lawyer and former US first lady. “When I visited The White House, I got to sticker ‘Life is Beautiful’ on the door. I took a lot of selfies,” he chuckles.

   “When I was asked to donate a piece of artwork to Pope Francis, I said: ‘Sure, but I want to paint with the Pope,’” he recalls. “Everyone told me it was a crazy request and that I was asking for the impossible. I suggested we ask the Vatican anyway, and the Pope agreed to do it. We created a new canvas together in celebration of immigrants. I even got him to paint on my jacket – he painted a cross, of course.” Guetta looks the part, too, with his trademark fedora, permanently attached sunglasses, big beard and paint-splattered workwear. He insists that it is just the practical uniform he has worn for as long as he can remember. He buys his jackets in multiples of 30 and, when they are more paint than textile, he puts them to one side. “The artists I love, they were all real characters. Their life was the art,” he says. “And I’m just who I am and I don’t try to be anybody else. I don’t think about having an image.”

Above: Double Decker (2021), a mural Guetta created to mark the opening of the Battersea Power Station development and Tube station

Yet small wonder that he has often had to deflect claims that, indeed, he is Banksy, or at least a Banksy creation. “But when you say: ‘I am [Banksy],’ they say: ‘No, you’re not.’ And when you say: ‘I’m not [Banksy],’ they say: ‘Yeah, sure you are!’ So, you know what, they can find out when all is revealed. In life everything comes out in the end. Now is not the right time but time will tell. And it will be a big surprise.”

   Guetta clearly prefers to maintain an air of mystery – he loves cryptic comments and refuses to talk about his life outside art. But, he says, it’s all just building up to a great reveal in 2022, which includes the release of a documentary and uploading a huge number of images to Instagram. He is keen to make feature films, too. “Movies are the best tool for communication, better than painting, because when you watch a film you stop time, stop the voices, stop the weather,” he says. 

   And there is his new artistic direction. Guetta concedes that the upbeat nature of his work, and its commercial popularity, has somewhat allowed his aesthetic muscle to atrophy over his career to date, though he has painted in another, more personal, style on the side. “It’s a deeper level of art,” he suggests. You can discover what this means at his museum. 

   “I’ve been very patient and, in a way, I think I’ve been trapped by my success,” he explains. “But I don’t resent that. I wouldn’t let go of [the kind of work I’m known for] because I think the positivity, the colour and the soul of it makes a lot of people happy. And why would anyone deny happiness?” he asks. It is not an easy question to answer. 

   “People say life is short but no, no, no, no – life is very long, because every day is a new life. We have no idea what will happen tomorrow,” says the artist, whose own rise came out of nowhere. “We need to remember that every day you can make a difference, make something better. We think we see with our eyes. But our true eyes are the heart – and we need to look around us.”

Mr Brainwash Museum, at 465 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, US, is due to open in spring 2022; mrbrainwashartmuseum.com