REBELS & CANVAS

China’s “Tax Evading” Rebel

Ai Weiwei, released from the clutches of the Chinese government on bail earlier this year, is without doubt one of the most politically rebellious artists currently alive. This rebellion comes not from his supposed tax fraud, a crime which has be known to warrant the death penalty in China, but rather his stance on the Chinese government, censorship and cultural ‘development’ in his home country.

Amongst some of the artists more renown works are those which problematise China’s interaction with its own cultural heritage. Ai uses urns and vases which are up to 7000 years old as almost readymades, adding to them or destroying them to highlight the damage caused by China’s rapid modernisation and the effects of the global economy, mass production and globalisation.

France’s Revolutionary Rebel

Let’s take a look at Girodet’s master, Jacques-Lois David, a political rebel. David was a great supporter of the French Revolution, he hung around with infamous political activists, radical journalists and Jacobin leaders. The French Revolution makes all those London riots seem about as devastating as a ham sandwich.

The Death of Marat - David

1793

Oil on Canvas

Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels

Hanging out with the rebels who guillotined their monarchs and set the stage for Napoleon still wasn’t enough for this dude, not just a phenomenal Neoclassical painter he was also a rebellious fencer and bore the scars of his exploits in the form of a facial tumor.

This guy was part of shaping modern Europe through an act of extreme rebellion, now that’s pretty wicked.