- Oh, hey, you know
artwork is supposed to be compelling and emotional, it's supposed to make you feel things, but sometimes it's just weird,
creepy, or indescribable. Here are the 10 most controversial
artworks of all time. Number 10 is Marcel Duchamp, Fountain. Marcel Duchamp's Fountain is technically a porcelain Bedfordshire model urinal, minus the plumbing of course, which is why it's considered
one of the most iconic and controversial pieces
of art in history. It was created in April of
1917 after he bought the urinal from a plumbing supplier in New York City. He brought it back to his
studio, placed it wall side down, and signed in R. Mutt 1917. Fountain is considered to be
one of his ready made works, which were items that were
built for practical use, but as an artist, Duchamp
represented them as art. That year, Duchamp anonymously
submitted the work, along with the six dollar fee, to the Society of Independent
Artists first exhibition, who said that they'd accept any artwork. But, they themselves caused
just as much of an uproar as Fountain did when they
refused it and called it not art. A series of replicas were made in 1964, but the original vanished before
it was ever publicly shown. I can see how this is controversial, I mean, it's a urinal upside down, this is up there with people
who have a white canvas and be like there's a black dot, it's artwork, 10,000 dollars. Number nine are Guerrilla Girls, Do Women Have To Be Naked
To Get Into The Met. Well, this one's a mouthful. The Guerrilla Girls were
formed in 1985 by seven women, and are still made up of
feminist activist artists who hide their identities
by wearing guerrilla masks, all while fighting racism
and sexism in the art world. Because, as we all know,
there's no better way to be taken seriously
than to play King Kong. Their very first protests were in response to an international survey of art put on the Museum of Modern
Art in New York City. Only 13 of the 165 shown were women, and even fewer were artists of color. In 1989, they turned their
protests into a poster campaign where they plastered
all over New York asking do women have to be naked
to get into the Met? The poster featured a nude
female painted by Jean Ingress, but wearing a guerrilla mask of course, and, the fact that only five percent of the artists in the Met were female, but 85 percent of nude figures were women. The posters were updated
in 1989, 1995, and 2012, but honestly not much
has changed as of 2012, as it is down to four
percent female artists shown, and 73 percent nude. I'm 100 percent for equality, but I think a lot of the reason that women are used is because men's
bodies are more utilitarian, you know what I mean? We evolved from needing to go out, club things over the head and drag it back to the cave for food,
you know what I'm saying? Plus the fur and what not, nah. Number eight is John Wayne Gacy. John Wayne Gacy is one of the worst serial killers in American history, having killed at least
33 boys and young men. After he was caught in 1978, the media nicknamed him the
killer clown because he would actually dress up as his
alter ego, Pogo the clown, for birthday parties and parades. No wonder people are afraid of clowns, but I guess he missed the good old days, because while on death row, he
painted hundreds of pictures, including self portraits dressed as Pogo. Who's got the pain? As disturbing as it sounds,
there's actually a market for murderer memorabilia and artwork. After he was executed in
1994, a bunch of his paintings were burnt in a bonfire that was attended by his victims' families. But in 2011, the Arts Factory in Las Vegas got ahold of 74 of Gacy's paintings, and put on a show and sale of his work. The gallery planned to send the proceeds to a victim's charity, but the National Center
for Victims of Crime said that they were glorifying Gacy, and they didn't want any of the money. To be honest, I see both
sides of the argument here, it's kind of a tough one. Kind of a juggling act, if you will. Get it? He was a clown. Moving on. Number seven is Chris
Ofili, The Holy Virgin Mary. Chris Ofili was born in
Manchester, England, in 1968, and is known for his
collages made up of layers of different materials,
including elephant dung. What a crappy job. Ofili used poo in his 1996 painting, The Holy Virgin Mary, which was part of the
exhibition's sensation. The work is eight feet
tall and six feet wide, and is propped up on two balls of dung, and depicts a black virgin Mary in a style that was inspired by
Ofili's Nigerian heritage, and his time spent in Zimbabwe. The image is made from his
usual assortment of mixed media, including angels that are cut
out from pornographic images, and Mary's exposed breast made of dung. Oh my God, can this get weirder? The controversy started when
it got to New York City, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani called
it sick and disrespectful to the virgin Mary and the church. Attempts were made to damage the work, and Giuliani even brought a lawsuit against the Brooklyn Museum
and tried to withdraw their funding and have them evicted. Again, this one's kind of a tough one, because artwork is supposed
to be compelling and engaging, sometimes controversial,
but poo on the virgin Mary, no, that guy might be going to hell. Number six is Guillermo
Vargas, Exposicion No. I. Guillermo Vargas was born in
1975 in San Jose, Costa Rica, and uses a lot of different
mediums in his work, from painting to live performance. His exhibition Exposicion
No. I wasn't any different, but the exhibition caused
international outrage when Vargas used a stray dog, named
it Natividad in the show. While the gallery was open, Natividad was left without food or water, and tied up underneath a
sign made of dog biscuits that spelled out you are what you eat. Over a million people signed
a petition against him after there were claims that
the dog starved to death. The gallery claimed that
the dog was properly fed, and was only tied up for a few hours before it escaped after the first day. Vargas pointed out that no one intervened to help the dog in the gallery, and that they would've ignored
the stray on the street. Again, this guy does make a good point, I'm very confused by a lot of these, these people are very good at arguing, I just feel bad for the dog. Number five is Orlan, The
Reincarnation of Saint Orlan. French artist Orlan was born
in 1947 as Mireille Porte, and is known for what
she called canal art. I can only imagine what this is gonna be. Her work can sometimes be seen
as bizarre performance art, but in The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan, she took the whole
concept of putting herself into her work to, let's just
say a whole nother level. Orlan started the project in 1990 by undergoing a series
of plastic surgeries. The goal of going under
the knife was to transform into the ideal woman that had
been depicted by male artists, by literally sculpting
her face to resemble the woman in famous
paintings and sculptures. To really take part in the performance, she was dressed in specially
made designer outfits, and was awake during the surgeries, and would listen to classical music. Is it just me, or does
something about this just scream Hannibal Lecter? Put on the classical music, Clarisse. The surgeries were also
filmed and broadcast to galleries in New York and Paris. By the end of all of the surgeries, Orlan's face was like a
collage of features from Venus, Diana, Europa, Psyche, and Mona Lisa. Number four is Edouard
Manet, Luncheon On The Grass. Impressionism is one
of the most celebrated art movements in history. But that wasn't the case
when it first showed up in Paris salons in the 1860s. The painting that caused
some of the biggest upset was Edouard Manet's Luncheon On The Grass. Manet was known in the Paris
art scene as a realist painter, and compared to some of
the impressionist works that look more like a blur of colors, Luncheon sticks to a pretty realist style. But it wasn't his distorted proportions that cause the most drama. It was because he put a nude
woman, presumably a prostitute, brightly lit on full display
in a park between two dapper, fully dressed men, instead
of hidden in a dark studio. When he submitted it to
the Paris salon in 1863, it was immediately rejected, and when it was finally
shown along with other impressionist artists, the
public was completely shocked, and spent most of their
time laughing at it. This one I could see, I
do understand why people laughed at it, look at her face, she's like you know what I'm doing here. Number three is Marina
Abramovic, Rhythm 0. Marina Abramovic was born in
1946 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and is known for engaging with audiences and putting herself in
vulnerable situations. But in Rhythm 0, she went from vulnerable to physical danger real quick. The six hour performance
was put on in 1974 at the Studio Mora in Naples. The table was laid with 72
objects, including an apple, cake, lipstick, flowers, a
feather, but as well as nails, a scalpel, a hammer, and a gun,
as well as a single bullet. Abramovic presented herself as an object, and allowed the audience
to interact with her or the objects however they wanted. It started innocent enough, but it didn't take long for
visitors to cut off her clothes, and started to cut her, and
even become sexually aggressive. But unbelievably, she stayed
committed to the performance, even when one person loaded
the gun and put it to her head. That's dedication to the art, I would've been out at that point. Other members of the public intervened, but not before the darkest animal side of humanity was exposed. Number two is Damien
Hirst, Natural History. Damien Hirst was born in
1965 in Bristol, England, and is one of the most successful members of the Young British
Artist Group of the 1990s. Hirst is known for using
dead and live butterflies in his work, but it was
his series Natural History that intended to create
a zoo of dead animals that really pissed people off. The first work in 1992, The
Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, was a dead tiger shark
suspended in formaldehyde. And you didn't think
these could get weirder, you were wrong. Critics and animal rights groups
argued that it wasn't art, but cruel and simple,
relying on its shock value. Other works in the series
had other dead animals in formaldehyde like
Mother and Child Divided, which was a cow and calf cut in half and displayed in separate vitrines. The works sold for millions, unbelievably, but despite his fame and fortune, Hirst has been accused of plagiarism, and even admitted to not
creating his own stuff, leaving the actual work
to many of his assistants. And number one is Michelangelo, The Last Judgment, The Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was born in
1475 and is still considered one of the greatest master
painters in history. But that doesn't mean he didn't cause any trouble back in the day. Michelangelo is best known for painting the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. The most iconic of them
is The Last Judgment, which he started in 1536, 25 years after he'd finished
the rest of the chapel. The massive fresco has over 300 figures and covers the entire alter. When it was finally finished in 1541, there was almost immediate
outcry from members of the church, who thought it
was obscene and disrespectful, and put art before religion. That's because he not
included mythological figures, but they were all pretty much naked, even the saints, Jesus, and Mary. Pope Paul III was a supporter of the arts, and didn't really mind, but
after Michelangelo died in 1564, all the nude bits were painted over. But it was eventually restored
between 1980 and 1994. Well, I'm just glad we live in a time where we're not afraid of
peoples' jiggly bits anymore, we're all just meat sacks
people, nothing to be afraid of. Thank you guys so much for watching this, it feels really good to be
back on camera once again. I appreciate all the
feedback you guys gave me saying that you want me back
in these videos, so I'm back. On the right, you'll find
two of my most recent videos that you can press or click right now if you wanna watch some more. And as always, I will see
you back in the next video with my face and all,
have a great day guys.
