Thanks to my Figure Drawing class for telling me about this! Have you seen this yet?
On October 5th, the British graffiti artist Banksy pranked the art world with an unprecedented performance of artwork self destruction. Seconds after the auction gavel hit the table – awarding a buyer his work Girl with Balloon for 1.4 million dollars – a paper shredder hidden inside the artwork’s frame was activated, and shredded the artwork right in front of everyone at Sotheby’s. The artwork was rushed off, but by then most of the work was hanging in strips from the bottom of the frame. Banksy posted a video (above) showing how he prepared for the stunt years in advance of the sale, “in case it was ever put up for auction.”
Although Banksy has previously expressed disdain for the art market, his actions may have actually increased the value of the work. It is normal for an auction house not to expect a buyer to go through with a purchase if the work was damaged somehow. But in this case, experts speculated the painting could now be even more valuable “given its status as the subject of one of the greatest pranks to have been played on the art market,” notes the Financial Times.
Pierre Koukjian, an artist who was at the auction, told the Associated Press the buyer was “very lucky” to own the now-historic piece. He said the prank was “a turning point in the history of contemporary and conceptual art.” Koukjian, who has met Banksy, said he thought he caught a glimpse of the artist as confusion reigned at the auction about what happened. Some said they saw security escort a man out of the building.
Recently I posted about Edward Hopper’s influences in painting and printmaking. This is part three of four (I think). Today is all about Hopper’s process. There is some of my own actual near-thinking and observation, plus a lot of internet research went into this, but I had trouble finding much for details that went beyond …
In art, to transcribe is to copy or record information in a different form than the original. To transcribe a painting or drawing is not to copy the artwork exactly, but instead to record observations in a different form. A transcription also doesn’t need to copy everything in an original. An artist can choose to …
If you’ve gone into instagram or padlet to see some of the creative responses to these challenges, you have probably seen some of the fabulous contributions from artists. From out of the dozens of interesting artworks, here are a few. Day 8: Reverse Collage The instructions were to stack materials, then reveal layers.
You are now at the second half of our 30 day creative challenge. It’s all uphill from here! Did you see the post with some of my favorites? Today’s challenge builds on yesterday’s. You can use the same plant, or even the same drawing, if you wish. This time, instead of drawing continuous contour lines, …
Banksy: Going, going, gone…
Thanks to my Figure Drawing class for telling me about this! Have you seen this yet?
On October 5th, the British graffiti artist Banksy pranked the art world with an unprecedented performance of artwork self destruction. Seconds after the auction gavel hit the table – awarding a buyer his work Girl with Balloon for 1.4 million dollars – a paper shredder hidden inside the artwork’s frame was activated, and shredded the artwork right in front of everyone at Sotheby’s. The artwork was rushed off, but by then most of the work was hanging in strips from the bottom of the frame. Banksy posted a video (above) showing how he prepared for the stunt years in advance of the sale, “in case it was ever put up for auction.”
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