Piero Manzoni

Piero Manzoni was one of the first artists that had a main interest in shocking the art viewer. This was usually done with his somewhat vulgar sense of humor. He began his career by producing silhouettes of everyday objects printed on canvases. He then evolved into his "achromes." These were white canvases covered with rough gesso, glue, and white clay. Some of his other odd works include; line drawings placed into cardboard tubes that were sealed, balloons filled with his "Artist Breath," boiled eggs marked with his thumb print and pedestals that "magically" transform people into art. In 1961 Manzoni signed people as art. There were called his "Living Sculptures." In May of this same year he reached his peak of odd with his latest artwork, ninety cans filled with thirty grams of "Artist Shit." The cans were sold at the 1961 price of gold (one was recently bought for $61,000, $600 more than the value of if it were made of 24-carot gold). He was commenting on the power of art; the art market will support anything as long as it is signed. It is also a take on the function of an artist and the production of an artist. fourty-five of the ninety cans have exploded under the pressure of the gasses released from the decomposed excrement. "I hope these cans explode in the vitrines of the collectors." At his death he was planning to package and sell "Artists Blood." He died in his studio in 1963.