Damien Hirst shark.
Damien Hirst's shark defines Avant Garde for me. I say this because this piece of work pushes boundaries, surprises and challenges our conceptions of what we call art. In my opinion I wouldn't consider this groundbreaking art or design. However he has shocked the world by doing something very strange and out of the ordinary.
I think the idea and concept is great, and it is amazing the way in which the shark is positioned and displayed. It is very hard not to be appreciated and marveled at, but it is being celebrated in the wrong way.I personally don't feel an art gallery is a place for something like this.
This could just as easily be exhibited in places like the Natural History museum, yet because he says its art, it is viewed as art. Art for art's sake- meaning that this could serve a better more educational purpose than the aesthetically pleasing piece it is at the moment.
http://www.observer.com/2008/arts-culture/damien-hirst-dealers-drop-dead
Two policemen kissing- by Banksy.
Bansky also is a great representative of the term avant-garde. His work is very original and usually has a hidden message within them, weather it be political or nonsense. He choses to uses the bare walls of the world in which he lives in as his canvas to promote himself . He doesn't really have to pay much to advertise himself or his work-apart from the cost of the materials he uses to produce such pieces.
In the piece below I think Banksy is basically saying up yours to the establishment and the system that governs us. The idea, concept and the way in which he has delivered the piece to his audience is great, you don't have to go to a gallery to see this, its out in the street, for the public to see. He has preference to the audience that sees his work not the galleries.
To me at first it isn't even art or design, its a message signifying the rise of anti- establishment. The rebel. This piece in particular shows the public that the police are in a sense a joke.
The government and police forces spend millions of pounds a year on cleaning up street art and graffiti and he's just rubbed it in their faces by producing a stencil that not only defaces property but produces an embarrassing image of two policemen kissing. Which in turn produces a reaction from the public who will probably be laughing at it.
