Climate Activists Caught Doodling On Andy Warhol’s Famed Campbell Soup Prints

In a protest against fossil fuel subsidies, a pair of climate protestors scrawled blue ink on a series of Andy Warhol’s famed Campbell’s Soup Cans artworks at the National Gallery of Australia. 

The duo then tried gluing their hands onto the screen-printed series, which remained protected under glass frames. 

Stop Fossil Fuels Subsidies, the organization behind the protest, is part of the A22 Network—a group of civil resistance organizations using art disruption tactics to draw attention to the issue of climate change. 

“Andy Warhol depicted consumerism gone mad in this iconic series. And now we have capitalism gone mad,” said Bonnie Cassen, one of the two activists who took part in the act. 

“Families are having to choose between medicine and food for their children while fossil fuel companies return record profits. And yet our government gives US$22,000 a minute in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry,” she added. 

Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies is highlighting the danger of capitalism by glueing onto Andy Warhol. Art depicting consumerism gone mad. While Australians starve, Government pays $22,000 a minute to subsidise fossil fuels. #StopFFS #Auspol #Cop27 #ClimateCrisis #FireproofAustralia pic.twitter.com/acSbRO1mWs

— Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies (@stopffsubsidies) November 9, 2022

Cassen has since been arrested by the Australian police. 

In response to the numerous protests taking place across the globe, the Association of Art Museum Directors released a statement earlier this month, condemning the actions. 

“This Association has always been clear that attacks on works of art cannot be justified, whether the motivations are political, religious, or cultural. Art crosses boundaries of time and place to underscore the creativity that people everywhere have expressed, and they represent our shared humanity,” the organization said.

“Attacking art for any purpose undermines those common bonds. Such protests are misdirected, and the ends do not justify the means,” it concluded. 

[via ARTnews and Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies, cover image via Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies]