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A documentary by Liran Shabtai
Gangster of Art
Eight years with a self-taught artist, from a flea-market studio to an opera house stage to the outer wall of the prison that once held him.
Official selection · National competition · EPOS International Art Film Festival 2023
WatchScreeningsFor programmersFor press
The film
Gangster of Art follows Bazooka Joe from a first sale to tourists, to a small gallery that made him its best seller, to collectors who bought whole studios. Along the way, artists and a curator argue over where outsiders stand with the art establishment. It closes at Walls of Hope, the mural he is invited to paint.
It premiered on 6 March 2023 at the EPOS International Art Film Festival, one of four films chosen for its national competition, and was later broadcast on television and released on demand.
Credits
- A film by
- Liran Shabtai
- Directed, produced and filmed by
- Liran Shabtai
- Edited by
- Vitaly Kravitz
- With
- Bazooka Joe
- Film
- Documentary. Completed 2022, premiered 2023
In his words, from the film
“I leave a mark on the canvas, the canvas leaves a mark on me.”
Bazooka Joe, in the film
“When I approach the empty canvas… It’s like a dance.”
Bazooka Joe, in the film
“I need to take the gangster in me and turn him into art.”
Bazooka Joe, in the film
“You snipe with your brush.”
On his name, taken from a soldier called Joe, a bazooka sniper
“I never know where I’ll begin and where I’ll stop.”
Bazooka Joe, in the film
“The gangster behind the wall became an art gangster outside of it.”
The film’s closing card
Stills from Gangster of Art, directed by Liran Shabtai. © Liran Shabtai. Each line is from the film, set beside a still from another moment. Translated from the original. High-resolution stills for press and programmers on request.
After the film
“I can see this work in New York.”
A collector, in the film
He is in New York now, painting every morning in a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Every available work on this site was made after the film.
The wall
The film ends at Walls of Hope, about 197 by 30 feet, painted over a spring and a summer without a single sketch. The studio takes on commissions for exterior walls and public sites.
Screenings
Gangster of Art is available for screenings followed by a conversation with the artist.
Museums and galleries
A 65-minute film for public programs, with the artist in conversation afterward.
Universities
For courses in art, film, social work and criminal justice, with a question and answer session with the artist.
Recovery, reentry and justice organizations
A film about what painting made possible, and an honest conversation with the artist.
Festivals
For art film, documentary and social impact programs.
Private screenings
For collectors, companies and private groups: at your venue, or with a studio visit in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Arrange a private screeningFor programmers
- Year
- 2022. Premiered 6 March 2023
- Runtime
- 65 minutes (1:04:46)
- Subtitles
- English, burned in
- Screener
- Private link on request
- Exhibition file
- Digital file, delivered before the screening. Technical details on request
- Terms
- Set with each venue
- With the artist
- A conversation after the screening, in person in the New York area or by video. The studio provides an interpreter
- Content note
- The film recounts his years in prison and in recovery, in his own words
- Stills and fact sheet
- High resolution, on request
Screened
- 6 March 2023Premiere, EPOS International Art Film Festival, 14th edition. Official selection, national competition.
- July 2023Cinematheque screening, with the director in conversation.
- August 2023Television broadcast and video on demand.
Tell us the venue, the audience and the date you have in mind. The studio replies within a day.
For press
Press text, free to use
Bazooka Joe, the Gangster of Art, is a self-taught artist who found painting in recovery, after six years in prison, and has painted every morning since. In 2018 the prison service invited him to paint the outer wall of the facility that once held him. Walls of Hope, about 197 by 30 feet, took 66 gallons of paint and 190 spray cans and was painted without a single sketch. The director Liran Shabtai followed him for eight years to make Gangster of Art, a 65-minute documentary chosen for the national competition of the EPOS International Art Film Festival in 2023. He now works in a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.