Thousands of images of timeless masterpieces were destroyed at the Opening Reception of The Art of Destruction, during Wynwood's Second Saturday ArtWalk. But sadly, these were Picasso's, Warhol's, Cindy Sherman's, DaVinci's, you know, artists from "away". No one local. We can't have that. No. No. No.
At "BYOB Night" - Bring Your Own Britto" to destroy, there will be a massacre of local art glitterati from 5 to 7 p.m., when folks such as MoCA director Bonnie Clearwater, art dealer Fredric Snitzer, and local artist Hernan Bas also will get their mugs torn to pieces in the shredder towers.
Don't get so upset. It's all in fun. The whole point of the Art of Destruction installation is to have participants make new art from old art. So why not make art by shredding the images of local artists themselves? And while we're at it, why not the local king makers and collectors too? If anything can be art, then certainly they're not above being made into art, themselves. Attendees are invited to bring their own images of Britto – and other artists, art collectors, art writers, and critics to shred.
Sardonically redefining iconoclasm as the destruction of sacred images or monuments of art, Randy Burman invites visitors to play a hands-on role in the creation of new art through the destruction of old art. Visitors entering Burman's project room at Artformz will be confronted with a provocative neon manifesto proclaiming, "OLD ART MUST DIE IN ORDER FOR NEW ART TO BE BORN". Reproductions of great masters works await with instructions to select one and feed it into one of four clear acrylic 'shredder towers' which when filled with shredded master works will constitute the new art.
Burman's installation project pays tribute to a rich anti-art tradition beginning with the Futurists, who proposed demolishing Italy's museums and libraries; Duchamp's collection of notes chronicling the creative process behind 'The Bride Stripped Bare...' where he described the use of a Rembrandt as an ironing board; Robert Rauschenberg's deliberate erasure of a drawing by the Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning (Rauschenberg, when accused of vandalism, defended his action by explaining that he was exploring a new kind of creative act — making a work of art through the unmaking of another); Raphael Montañez Ortiz's, one of the pioneers of Happenings, destruction of pianos; and finally rock stars Pete Townshend smashing guitars (he had been exposed to German/British artist Gustav Metzger's theories on Auto-destructive art at art school); and Jimi Hendrix's setting his guitar on fire.
Burman's intention is to metaphorically and demonstratively transform the visitor's gallery experience from one of passive observation and contemplation to a participatory role where the visitor replaces the art elitist's contrived experience with active engagement in the creative process.
