" Exit Through the Kwik @-@ E @-@ Mart " was written by Marc Wilmore and directed by Steven Dean Moore as part of the twenty @-@ third season of The Simpsons ( 2011 – 12 ) . It spoofs the debated status of street art as a true form of art . The title is a reference to Exit Through the Gift Shop , a 2010 street art documentary by graffiti artist Banksy who produced the opening sequence of an earlier Simpsons episode titled " MoneyBART " ( 2010 ) . The Richard Hawley song " Tonight The Streets Are Ours " , which is the theme song of Exit Through the Gift Shop , is included in the episode during a montage of Bart painting graffiti in Springfield . Hayden Childs of The A.V. Club noted in his review of " Exit Through the Kwik @-@ E @-@ Mart " that the " reveal that the art show was a police sting gives the show a moment to joke about the anti @-@ art market theme from Exit Through The Gift Shop . Wiggum asks who would be stupid enough to pay for work that an amateur puts up for free in public , and the answer is , as in Banksy ’ s movie , the very wealthy , here represented by Mr. Burns . "