Brian Andrew Whiteley
Brian Andrew Whiteley is a visual artist with an approach that occasionally causes controversy. (He is on a Secret Service watch list and has been sued by Justin Bieber). Whiteley is also an established curator and director of the artist-run art fair and gallery Satellite Art Show. Whiteley is based in New York City.
Sued by Justin Bieber
[edit]In 2021, Whiteley was sued by Justin Bieber for impersonating him. Whiteley had been channelling Bieber as a performance art project. He created a body of paintings as Bieber and had a gallery show planned in New York City when Bieber's LA legal firm sued. His Bieber paintings were sought by major collectors, who had to sign an NDA to see the catalog, and there were multiple offers for works starting at $100,000. The subsequent events are documented in ART NET.[1] Whiteley eventually revealed he was performing as Bieber and had to change the name of the show from "Paintings from Space" by Justin Bieber to "Just Bieber is Suing Me by Brian Andrew Whiteley". One of the most sought-after works was actually by his 5-year-old son.
The Trump Tombstone
[edit]In 2016, Whiteley gained notoriety through his controversial and widely publicized Trump Tombstone.
The 500-pound gravestone dedicated to Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump was originally unveiled in the early hours of Easter Sunday in New York City's Central Park. The stone read "Made America Hate Again" and listed "Trump, Donald J" in sharp letters. Although it was removed within hours, images of the work circulated on social media and the police searched for the artist, who remained unidentified nearly two months, although he gave anonymous interviews affirming the work as "political satire and a guerrilla art piece."[2]
After an extensive investigation by the Secret Service and the NYPD, Whiteley was revealed as the creator of the tombstone.[3] The Secret Service and NYPD interrogated Whiteley in his home, asking him if he owned a gun, attended presidential rallies, and about the books he read.[4] Whiteley was never charged and was eventually allowed to pick up the tombstone from the NYPD evidence locker.[4]
Bigfoot Performances
[edit]From 2012-2014, Whiteley repeatedly videotaped himself in the woods as Bigfoot and submitted the documentation to experts as first-hand sightings of Bigfoot via the website BFRO.NET [5] He was able to speak directly with the experts about his experience of capturing Bigfoot. The experts repeatedly debunked his sightings. Whiteley used these interactions to inform his performances. His most refined performance went viral.[6] Whiteley stopped videotaping himself as Bigfoot after being shot at while in his Bigfoot costume in Upstate New York.[7]
Starting the Creepy Clown Pandemic
[edit]In 2013, Whiteley began performing as a clown in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn. He documented the performances and sent in video and photos from fake gmail accounts to the media. The clown was picked up by numerous press outlets including the NY Daily News,[8] New York Magazine,[9] Gothamist[10] and the Village Voice.[11] In the middle of the NYC clown frenzy, Whiteley flew to Chicago and performed as a clown in Rosewood Cemetery, which quickly got picked up by CBS, Fox and Huffington Post which cemented the creepy clown pandemic in people's mind. Copy-cat clowns soon started popping up around the country. During this project, Whiteley explored how the media substantiates works of art and how far could he can push them on coverage. The project was based on fake news before the term was popularized. [12]
Satellite Art Show
[edit]Whiteley is the founder of the Satellite Art Show,[13] an artist-run fair held annually in Miami, New York City and occasionally in Austin. Satellite was voted Miami's best art fair by popular vote via Miami New Times.[14] [15] Satellite was given the key to the city of Miami Beach and has received a Mayoral proclamation naming December 5th as Satellite Art Show Day. Notable past exhibitors include Meow Wolf, Jacolby Satterwhite, DiMODA, Rashaad Newsome, Jen Catron & Paul Outlaw, Estate of Fridah Kahlo. Notable past performers included Ghost Face Killah, Denzel Curry, Cupcakke, Misterperiod, Show Me The Body, Vic Mensa, Lee Ronaldo, James Chance. Notable Attendees: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mike D, Usher, and Natalia Imbruglia.
In 2024, the Satellite Art Show opened an art gallery in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood.
References
[edit]- ^ "Justin Bieber's Lawyers Tried to Shut Down a Gallery Show by an Artist Impersonating the Pop Star to Sell $100,000 Paintings". 4 November 2021.
- ^ Whitford, Emma (April 2, 2016). "How A Brooklyn Artist Allegedly Snuck Trump's Tombstone Into Central Park". Gothamist. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
- ^ Ryzik, Melena (2016-05-10). "Artist Behind Donald Trump Gravestone in Central Park Steps Forward". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
- ^ a b McDermott, Emily (2016-07-20). "Matters of Life and Death: Brian Whiteley Retrieves His Trump Tombstone From the NYPD". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
- ^ https://www.bfro.net/
- ^ "WATCH: What's That Strolling Through Brooklyn's Prospect Park? Bigfoot or a Big Faker?". 3 February 2015.
- ^ "Bigfoot ready for his close-up: Prospect Park Sasquatch IDed as cemetery clown prankster • Brooklyn Paper". 13 February 2015.
- ^ "Creepy clown 'haunts' Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery". New York Daily News. 14 July 2014.
- ^ "Clown Haunts Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery". 14 July 2014.
- ^ "Go Home, Clown Wandering Green-Wood Cemetery". 14 July 2014.
- ^ "Some Jerk is Dressing up Like a Clown and Roaming Around Green-Wood Cemetery [Updated]". 14 July 2014.
- ^ "2 Investigators: Creepy Clown Trespasses at Chicago Cemetery, in Dead of Night - CBS Chicago". CBS News. 23 July 2015.
- ^ "Satellite Art Show".
- ^ "Best of Miami 2019: The Best Art and Artists".
- ^ Farley, Michael Anthony (2015-10-23). "Announcing F.A.G. and a New, Artist-Run Satellite Show in Miami". Art F City. Retrieved 2023-01-31.