Written by Raya Chicheva
Rebellion stands for “the action against those in authority, against
the rules, or against normal and accepted ways of behaving”.
And as art is basically an activity through which people express
a particular idea, these two easily go hand in hand. Considering
the individual matter of both, we won’t make any statements, but
give you some examples of artists that didn’t follow the “rules” or
stated their own rebellious opinion through their art.
Sergei Polunin
Sergei Polunin is an Ukrainian ballet dancer. Thanks to his
unconditional talent he joined the British Royal ballet school at
the early age of 13 and became their youngest principal dancer.
It may seem like a dream come true for most ballet dancers, but
not for Sergei. The Royal school had too much influence on his
expression as an artist and he started to feel unhappy. He felt like
the artist in him was dying. At that time, he quit in order to save his
own artistic vision. Luckily, his passion for ballet was revived after
his collaboration with director David LaChapelle, for his dance on
Hozier’s “Take me to church” (which is quite a rebellious song in
itself, but more on that later).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=c-tW0CkvdDI
It’s hard to miss the fact that the dancer is heavily tattooed, which
is unusual for a ballet dancer, as their art is often perceived as
very classic and “by the book”. Sergei sees his body art as another
way of self-expression and overcoming tough times in his life. He’s
an example of a rebellious artist. First, he didn’t let anyone rule
over his own art, even though he was risking his career and then
broke the stereotypical image of a ballet dancer. He proved that
even a classical art such as ballet could take an “unusual” direction
nowadays.
Banksy’s influence
Graffiti is definitely an art form of the 21st century. Considered
vandalism in the past, today it has become a powerful tool for
activism and expression. Thanks to the world-known Bristolian
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