Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Destroying/Defacing Art

Ethan Hawke

11:14 / 19.09.01

I'm looking for info about people who have destroyed/defaced art hanging in museums for political/aesthetic/lunatic reasons. I believe, during the whole "killing a kitten for art" thread, there was mention of someone who spit green paint on paintings in museums. Obviously, other people have slashed, splashed paint on, and eaten artwork in museums to make a point or draw attention to themselves. Does anyone recall any specific cases, know of any resources (web or print) about this sort of behavior?

bio k9

11:46 / 19.09.01

The first time I remember hearing about the Taliban is was because of this.

Vitamin-C

22:02 / 19.09.01

Valerie Solanis shot andy warhol.
Does that count?

Frantastic

12:02 / 20.09.01

well the best known case is of a sufragette who slashed the Rockeby Venus by Velasquez in the National Gallery as a stnad for getting the female vote.

A more recent case would be that huge portrait at the Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy made with child's handprint sof child molester/murderer woman (you know what i mean) - yorkshire ripper stuff.

Jack Fear

13:14 / 20.09.01

Somebody planted a big smoochy kiss on Andy Warhol's painting "Bathtub," and it took NASA technology to clean the lipstick off.

Napoleon's soldiers blew the nose off the Sphinx with rifles.

Few pharaonic Egyptian wall carvings are fully intact—they have an unfortunate way of being defaced in acts of politically-inspired vandalism. Remember, these paintings were public documents and usually depicted political figures: later generations of political enemies would gouge the faces off the figures.

Jack Fear

13:31 / 20.09.01

An article on the subject: http://www.thereader.com/a1/751/art.shtml

Ethan Hawke

14:54 / 20.09.01

Cool. You guys rule! This is great stuff. I have this idea gestating about a Guy Grand-esque figure/figures who go around the world destroying priceless artwork.

LaughingOtter

17:49 / 20.09.01

quote:Originally posted by Jack Fear:
Somebody planted a big smoochy kiss on Andy Warhol's painting "Bathtub," and it took NASA technology to clean the lipstick off.

Napoleon's soldiers blew the nose off the Sphinx with rifles.

Few pharaonic Egyptian wall carvings are fully intact—they have an unfortunate way of being defaced in acts of politically-inspired vandalism. Remember, these paintings were public documents and usually depicted political figures: later generations of political enemies would gouge the faces off the figures.

Yeah, and during WWII two idiots who'd been stationed to guard explosives in Greece ended up blowing up the Parthenon. But that was sheer idiocy instead of intentional. Sorry.

netbanshee

17:59 / 20.09.01

...if you have any ideas of what art to deface, maybe try calling them up before you do it...especially if they're modern painter's who are still alive..

...but in line with this, Marcel DuChamp's "The Large Glass" broke in a spot when it was installed in the PMA...after seeing it, he said it was finally finished...

LaughingOtter

18:00 / 20.09.01

quote:Originally posted by todd:
Cool. You guys rule! This is great stuff. I have this idea gestating about a Guy Grand-esque figure/figures who go around the world destroying priceless artwork.

First thing I would do is raid Elizabeth Taylor's place and make her watch as I flushed her diamonds down the loo. Give the old has-been a heart attack. Feh.
Or perhaps repainting the Sistine Chapel ceiling so that God is giving Adam the finger.
Or turning the Mona Lisa's smile upside-down.
Or painting in a roach-clip and joint into "Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe".
Or Mickey Mouse attending the Last Supper.
Hmmm, this is starting to be some fun, eh?

Malle Babbe

22:43 / 20.09.01

On the subject of art defacement as a political statement, after the French Revolution, the living hell was blown out of cathedrals all over the country, most notably Cluny III.

autopilot disengaged

11:34 / 23.09.01

i forget the details, but someone poured ink into damian hirt's 'impossibility of the concept of death in the mind of someone living' (shark in tank). thing is, the guy claimed to be an artist himself - and said his attack was direct action art criticism.

levon

17:24 / 23.09.01

I'm surprised no one brought up the time when Tony Shafrazi spray painted "Kill All Lies" on Picasso's Guernica painting. He now owns one of the biggest art galleries in New York.

link

Ria

18:14 / 25.09.01

Shafrazi's art babble 'explanation' makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Vitamin-C

18:26 / 27.09.01

it wasn't damien hirst's shark piece, it was the sheep one. i think it's called 'away from the flock'.

but i don't remember the rest of the details either.

mikeh

09:50 / 22.10.01

if you get that re-search "pranks" book, there is an insane piece on these dutch dudes, who as well as squatting and fighting cops, used to steal huge paintings on their bikes to trade for motorcycle. there is a bit about them stealing a haring piece and bragging about it on the radio, not getting caught, and actually having haring giving them another piece legit. awesome.
mikeh

Graeme McMillan

16:49 / 22.10.01

quote:Originally posted by todd:
I have this idea gestating about a Guy Grand-esque figure/figures who go around the world destroying priceless artwork.

Hello.

Jackie Susann

09:49 / 26.10.01

A few years ago in Melbourne, two teenagers smashed up Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ" with a hammer. I think they also went for one of his KKK portraits. They were just dumb kids, pretty funny - even though Serrano claimed they'd changed the meaning of his artworks he never offered to split royalties with them or anything.

I heard a story once about two painters hired to paint all the doors in some museum white for a biennale. Supposedly, the curators forgot to explain that one particular door was a Duchamp ready-made, and had near aneurysms when they found out.

And Bakunin, back during (I think) the Paris commune urged militants to loot the galleries and put up art masterpieces on their barricades, in the hope police wouldn't shoot at them.

Add Your Reply