Vandalism at the Whitney Museum
Istvan Kantor.
Photo: Antoine S Lutens, via Facebook.
On August 20 a man entered the retrospective exhibition of Jeff Koons at the Whitney museum. According to artist Laura Higgins Palmer he was holding a black bag. When she turned towards a Bunny-sculpture of Koons she would see Canadian performance artist Istvan Kantor splashing paint on the wall in what appears to be a kind of double X shape, although it could also be a human figure with arms and legs spread.
The red paint was infact his own blood, he signed the work with his artistic name “Monty Cantsin”, Online-magazine Hyperallergic reported. He was photographed by a passerby, raising his arms and holding a piece of paper.
“I am a painter, same age as Koons, but my work is about painterly aesthetics, not in-your-face conceptualism,” witness Laura Higgins Palmer wrote to Hyperallergic. “I am completely at peace with Koons, really enjoyed the show, and also can fully sympathize with the guy’s frustrations.”
Kantor, managed to sign his name in marker underneath before being led away by security. Afterwards he wrote via Facebook under the name Monty Cantsin Amen, to a friend at Hyperallergic:
“I just came out of mental hospital where the police took me after the Whitney. I was discharged, I am free. I’ll put out my Supreme gift manifesto, that I handed to the museum after the intervention. I go out for a drink now in the lower east side, thanks for your support Monty.”
In 2005, Kantor told the Japan Times about how he sees himself as an artist and his work.
“I call myself a ‘subvertainer’ and I consider my criminal activities the most creative part of my work. My art was always anti-establishment and anti-institutional. My attitude always questions what is the relationship between artists and the institutional art world and the need for institutions. The whole ‘Blood Campaign’ is basically an ongoing anti-institutional project.”
The artist is also known as the founder of Neoism which has its origin in the late 1970s Canada.
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