Banksy’s well known canvas of the Girl with balloon(2006) was the final item on auction at Sotheby’s in London. As soon as the painting was sold for £1,O4 million, the painting began to pass through a shredder installed into the gold frame. The artist shared this stunt on his website and on Instagram with Picasso's quote ”The urge to destroy is also a creative urge”. Banksy built the shredder into the painting's frame in case the piece was put up for auction. The purchaser bought the piece anyway.
At the moment more than one hundred of the most celebrated graffiti and street artists are showing works at BEYOND THE STREETS in Los Angeles' Venice Pavillion.
Site-specific installations, photography, sculptures and paintings are shown in- and outdoors as a tribute to Los Angeles.
The exhibition includes artworks of Faile, Shepard Fairey, Lady Aiko, Dan Witz, Banksy, Martha Cooper, Invader, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Swoon and VHILS.
Art collector Roger Gastman( Art in the Streets) curated the show. Gastman is also known as co- founder of Fairey's Swindle magazine and co- producer of Banksy's documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. Other curators are Evan Pricco( editor of Juxtapoz magazine), David Villorente and author Caleb Neelon.
The must see installations include Faile's temple, a playful, interactive sacred structure, banners of the feminist collective Guerrilla Girls and a playable handball court with artwork by Lee Quiñones.
Together we stand presented the Belgian Battle Pro Breakdance championships. The winners of the Belgian edition went to the World Finals of Battle Pro in Lille. The host first of all explained the rules of the 8 vs 8 crew battle. In the first round Funky Belgian'z( vs Young Ill Minds), Prison Break ( vs psycho b boys), awkward scientists and the battle droids( vs mixed souls) were selected. In the semi finals Funky Belgianz won from Prison Break with their routines. The young battle droids from Antwerp( with b girl) astonished awkward scientists. Commotion arose during the finals, when one of the Funky Belgian'z pushed one of the young battle droids twice. Although FB should have been disqualified, the battle was resumed after some manipulative( read dishonest) moves. It was a pity: the atmosphere was gone, and people left with some disappointment. But yes: the Funky Belgian'z did have more skills.
Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei(1957 ) is best known for his sociopolitical activism.
His controversial artworks express radical criticism on human rights violations, the abuse of power, corruption and censorship. This is no surprise as Ai's childhood was spent in exile in various labour camps until Mao Zedong's death in 1976.
During his animation studies at the Beijing Film Academy, Ai became a member of the Stars, an avant garde art collective with with Ma Desheng, Wang Keping, Huang Rui, Li Shuang, Ah Cheng and Qu Leilei.
Whilst residing in the USA(1981-1993), the oeuvre of Warhol, Johns and Duchamp inspired him to get involved in conceptual art and ready made objects. The New York photographs were made at that time.
When Ai's father, well known poet Ai Qing, became ill, Ai returned to China.
The provocative series Studies of Perspective (1995-2003) are photographs of his middle finger and cultural monuments, such as the White House, the Eiffel Tower.
With Chinese curator Feng Boyi he curated the Fuck Off exhibition in Shanghai(2000) and co published a trilogy about the experimental artists of Beijing East Village: Black Cover Book (1994), White Cover Book (1995), and Gray Cover Book (1997). In 2003 he created the architecture studio FAKE Design.
At Documenta(2007) 1001 Chinese citizens were invited to Germany to become a living installation: Fairytale. In 2010 the popular Sunflower Seeds exhibition, composed of 100 million hand made, painted porcelain sunflower seeds, took place in Tate Modern.
In 2011 charges of tax evasion led to a three month detention.
Protests and petitions were organized by the European Union, the US and museums such as Tate Modern.
In 2012 Alison Klayman made a documentary about the artist, entitled Never Sorry.
Ai and his assistants have made video installations about traffic and the urban development in Beijing, the Sichuan earthquake, the cat eating industry, Fukushima, Aids, ... .
More recently Ai's team focused on the refugee crisis by means of photographical series, the documentary Human Flow and an installation of 14,000 life vests around the columns of the Konzerthaus Berlin concert hall (2016).
A warm plea for freedom of speech, freedom of expression and human rights.
