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Various Artists
LOT ID: 67986
Column of oil drums, 1991

Other Cast Metals, aerosol spay on a oil drum
103.9 х 23.6 х 23.6 in. cm.
Signed, by JonOne, Ash, André, Capone, Stem, Oeno, BBC, and others
Lot description
Artists include: JonOne, Ash, André, Capone, Stem, Oeno & BBC

By the end of the 1980’s, Street Art and Graffiti was seen in France as a degeneration of the urban landscape. Many felt this faction of Art had no place in Museums or cultural institutions, seeing it as an expression of a social pathology that had stemmed from hip-hop – a supposed ‘lower culture’. Presenting this to the public as art was generally seen as a provocation. In January 1991, at the Louvre station of the Parisian metro, the walls were covered with tags and by various graffiti artists. The public and the French press perceived this as an outrage and a scandal.
Only a few months later, the French minister Jack Lang, aware of the potential preeminence of this movement both in France and overseas, began organizing an exhibition at the Grande Arche de la Défence, called ART CO'91 . The site was an interesting choice in itself, having originally been developed as a business center. By organizing such an exhibition, the government lent a certain legitimacy to Street Art and its’ artists and from this time onwards, the movement began to get the recognition it so much deserved.
In this piece, the use of oil drums in the form of a column makes reference to the Buren columns, which also received much criticism at the time of their creation.
This column represents what graffiti embodied at the time, a communal movement which brought various artists together.
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