Canvas/Oil
60 cm x 80 cm

This artwork was created for the BurnOrBuy exhibition in Warsaw, and was sold at auction.

The concept of this exhibition was that the artworks which didn’t get sold during the show would be destroyed at the end. The exhibition turned into a scandal for two reasons.

✦There was a misunderstanding between the organizer and one of the artists. The girl thought her work wouldn’t be destroyed. I find that strange, because even the name of the exhibition clearly implied that the works would be burned. From the very beginning, Roma (the organizer) presented the entire concept through the lens of destruction — the ephemerality of art.

✦The burning itself. Everyone involved in the show assumed the "burning" part was either symbolic, or at least would happen in a safe environment under supervision, with proper fire safety measures. But no. Immediately after the auction ended, a couple of young punks armed with things like sticks and bottles stormed the artworks still hanging on the gallery walls. After they were on the ground, the paintings were doused in flammable liquid and set on fire — right there in the gallery, which is located inside a shopping center. Naturally, the fire alarm went off, and the fire department showed up.

When the videos from the scene hit the internet, the conversation began — but the real peak of attention came the next day, when the artist whose piece had been destroyed posted an angry statement. She accused the organizers of vandalism, of disrespecting art, of insanity, and even of sexual harassment by the organizer.

My personal opinion is that the sexual harassment part was used to amplify the emotional impact of her post — and it worked. People began reposting her story, highlighting the harassment claims, leaving furious comments about how people like that should be “erased,” saying the organizer was a talentless vandal.

By the way, 4 of the 8 destroyed paintings were actually by the organizer himself — he painted them.

Also worth noting: the girl was at the exhibition every single day and showed no signs of being uncomfortable whatsoever, right up until the moment her piece was destroyed.

So why am I even sharing all these details?
Because I love when society splits into different opinions and starts arguing. In this situation, those who supported the organizer were in the minority (I was one of them). But most people who took the girl's side had never been to the exhibition, didn’t know the organizer personally, and had no understanding of the exhibition’s message.
Yes, someone could have gotten hurt during the burning. But people get hurt by random accidents every day. So who’s to blame? The gallery owner, who didn’t supervise the event? Or the organizer, who paid the gallery to host the show?

For me, this whole exhibition was an act of expanding public consciousness. And I see it as my sacred duty — my mission — to get inside people’s heads and make them see things more broadly.
That’s also why I love showing furry art to people considered “normies.”
Mission accomplished.