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Marina Abramovic Gives Her Take On Shia LaBeouf's 'I AM SORRY' Performance
Marina Abramovic spoke out about Shia LaBeouf's pop-up art show (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images; Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
It's been a busy week for celebrity troll Shia LaBeouf, as he set up a pop-up performance at an L.A. gallery on Tuesday that basically rips off artist Marina Abramovic's work as well as other artists. Abramovic spoke out gave her take on LaBeouf's nearly week-long performance to Vulture and called it "manipulative.".*
At LaBeouf's performance, "#IAMSORRY" that runs through Sunday, the Transformers actor sits in a room wearing a tuxedo and a paper bag on his head that reads "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE." He lets patrons pick an "implement" (from a whip to a vase of daisies) to punish him one-on-one with and then he sits and stares in silence with the guests, sometimes sobbing uncontrollably. (It's supposedly his performance art apology for plagiarizing a number of other folks)
It's mostly derivative of Abramovic's "Rhythm 0" performance piece in 1974 where she let patrons use 72 tools as they pleased on her for six hours. Also in her "The Artist is Present" event at MOMA in New York in 2010, she would stare at audience members for as long as they wanted.
Abramovic told Vulture that she didn't think LaBeouf's art had anything to do with hers and mentioned the paper bag on his head as a reference. “I’m very happy people are inspired by [my] work, but this is not the same work," she said. "I don’t see it as anything to do with me."
She commented further on how fame factors in the "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE" aspect of LaBeouf's paper-bag hat:
"It's so manipulative, and it's so complicated to answer," she said. "It’s very interesting to me that the Hollywood world wanted to go back to performance, which is something so different than what they are doing. Maybe they need our experience; maybe they need simplicity; maybe they need to be connected to [the] direct public, which, you know, being a Hollywood actor doesn’t permit you.
She may not be so pleased with LaBeouf, but Abramovic was "flattered" when Jay-Z performed his "Picasso Baby" track for six hours (yes, six freaking whole hours!) and danced with audience members at an art gallery in New York in July 2013, which people said was similar to her "The Artist is Present." Abramovic, who went to the show to check it out for herself, was excited that performance art was spreading to the rap community. "If he was inspired by something that I did, I wanted to be there and be part of it," she told Vulture.
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Who could get mad at the J-Hova though? Now, LaBeouf is a different story...
*Vulture has since issued a correction on their article saying they are not sure if Abramovic was referring to LaBeouf's art or the discussion about it as being "manipulative."
Related:
Jerry O'Connell Mocks Shia LaBeouf With Competing Exhibit Next Door: I AM SORRY TOO
Here Are Some Artists Shia LaBeouf Copied For His #IAMSORRY Project
Shia LaBeouf Sets Up Shop At Los Angeles Gallery To Say He's Sorry
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