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The Bullfight! The historic tradition! The glorious danger of a confused and raging bull ready to charge at his tormentor. The bulging manhood of the Matador as he proudly steps around the coliseum in his ornate and regal costumery!
And now ladies and gentlemen, the Pandafight! Watch as the athletic and handsome slayer taunts the raging Panda with a red flag and runs quickly away! See how he stabs with colorful blades into the panda’s back, thrusting his sword between the shoulder blades!
Michael Beerens. Paris, France. Oct 2014. (photo © Alexis Masurelle)
On a wall in Paris’ Chinatown (Belleville) Street Artist Michael Beerens re-imagines the national animal of China standing in the place of the traditional bull, ready to be killed slowly and publicly to entertain the assembled fans.
“I noticed that in the eyes of man, all animals do not have the same value,” says Bereens, who challenges an ingrained thought pattern that finds the cuddly cute photogenic ones more valuable in some cultures than others. “For example, crushing a spider is good but a ladybug is saved; rats are killed but we like squirrels and hamsters.”
Michael Beerens. Paris, France. Oct 2014. (photo © Alexis Masurelle)
To complete this wall, which he says he did not have permission for, Bereens simply showed up to it with a lot of equipment and paint cans. He says some people stopped to thank him for putting color on the walls, and others stopped to take photos of the wall, of him, of themselves in front of the wall. “It’s a free exchange,” he says, “I try to convey a human message but I have nothing to sell except my ideas. I’m not trying to sell Coca Cola,” he explains.
Which reminds of those white polar bears…
Let’s go to a Polar Bear Fight!!
Michael Beerens. Paris, France. Oct 2014. (photo © Alexis Masurelle)
Michael Beerens. Paris, France. Oct 2014. (photo © Alexis Masurelle)
“The three ‘bandrilles’ that the panda has in his back represent the 3 countries where the bullfight is still practiced legally; France, Spain and Portugal,” says artist Michael Beerens. Paris, France. Oct 2014. (photo © Alexis Masurelle)
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