Video: World leaders at gunpoint: a series of paintings by Gil Vicente
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
For a week at the 29th Biennale of Contemporary Art in Sao Paulo, controversy has not subsided. They were caused by the work of a Brazilian artist. Gila Vicente (Gil Vicente), which presented a series of paintings depicting scenes of the murder of the most influential people in the world, including the Queen of Great Britain and the Pope.
Vicente's works are a series of nine charcoal pencil drawings called Inimigos, which means Enemies. In each of the paintings there is a world leader of the present time or of past years, at whom a pistol is pointed. Interestingly, the killer in all the images is played by the same person, and this is Jill Vicente himself. In addition to the already mentioned Elizabeth II and Pope Benedict XVI, the artist sends at gunpoint former US President George W. Bush, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lul da Silva.
Not everyone liked Gil Vicente's ambiguous paintings. For example, the Brazilian Bar Association has already asked the administration of the Biennale to remove these works from the exhibition. As one of the representatives of the association stated, “even if a work of art, without any restrictions, expresses the creative potential of its creator, there should still be limitations when showing it to the public”. However, this request was not satisfied: the organizers decided to leave the paintings as a confirmation of freedom of expression in Brazil and throughout the civilized world.
And finally, let's give the floor to Gil Vicente himself. When asked what made him paint the scenes of the murders of world leaders, the artist answered clearly and succinctly: "Since they killed a lot of other people, it would be a pleasure to kill them, do you understand?"
The total cost of the Inimigos series is $ 260,000: none of the pieces are sold separately.
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