Making sense of art and design industries

By: Selbo

Streetart artist known as AFK has done it again. At the same place as the controversial painting of politician Sylvi Listhaug was shown in the streets of Bergen back in April 2018, a painting of WikiLeaks-founder Julian Assange appeared a year later making new headlines. Does AFK put his work out open to the public to create a public debate or to promote his brand and artwork?

AFKs art is known to provoke. In previous years, the artist has had both sculptures and artwork stolen from the streets. Only to find some to be sold on the open market without the artists permission. The artist has been quick to respone that he has had nothing to do with it and don’t wont his art sold. But when its available for anyone to take it, does it make it right to steal?

“When artworks raises that much attention, the value of the work goes up. And that rises the risk of it getting stolen”
Christian Hundevadt, kunstveggen.no

So, ask yourself. If there is a product out there, its free for anyone to take and its highly spoken about. Why not take it and make money? But then again, you will be selling someone else work. Is that right?

In an inclusive market there are no gallerists. AFKs artwork in this case, was not promoted at a gallery or had guarded protection. This is an artist that wants to use the public as an audience, the street as his gallery and raise awareness around serious cases that needs attention. Based on all the headlines his work has gotten, one can argue that he has made it.

Street art is a form of different non-commercial art. But when AFKs paintings were stolen and sold on the open market, does that make it a commercial case? One can argue that the paintings were put up in a public sphere so anyone can take it down. There are no gallerists, no gallery. So when the artist gives a statement to the media about not wanting his art to be sold and to make a profit of, is that fair of him to speak out about it. Yes, its his work. When it gets stolen, is it his property? Maybe, maybe not. Some might say that AFK is an artist who used a lot of time on the art and is recognized for his work.

So to raise the question in the headline: are AFK provoking or promoting? His most recent artwork “We Are Millions”, has had guarded protection from anonymous people. The artwork is also split up into multiple pieces so it can be hard to take down. Have AFK used the same place on purpose to promote? I would vote yes. Are his artwork provoking? Yes. Putting those two together, has his art have an effect? Yes. Street art is topic that can forever be discussed, but in this case, the artist made us discuss about him.