Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Controversial Art

.. at the Biennale of Sydney...


Novocento

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's Novecento is currently 'hanging' at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Australia. Obviously this type of work is controversial from both an animals rights perspective and in taking into consideration the question 'what is art ?'

"The work is titled Novecento (or Twentieth Century) in reference to Bernardo Bertolucci's 1976 film of the same name, starring Robert de Niro and Gerard Depardieu, which depicts the opposing forces of fascism and communism in 20th century Italian history. According to the Biennale's official guidebook, the dead horse "expresses a sense of blocked energy. A saddled horse is a means of transportation and mobility; here it is rendered immobile. [Cattelan's] work is a eulogy for the end of the great revolutionary impulses that characterised the 20th century."

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Western Christian Civilization

Contemporary art is often aimed to arouse controversy. Western Christian Civilisation by the Argentinian artist Leon Ferrari was made in 1965 as the United States began to bomb Vietnam. It combines a model of Christ being crucified, not on a cross but on the wings of an American fighter aircraft.

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