The Art of Assange

Image Credit Flickr User Abode of Chaos

Over the last few weaks Julian Assange has been in the headlines a great deal (you don't say). More than a little street art has sprung up around the internet activist - most of it internet based. However, the art which I have found the most compelling are the three portraits created at Paris based Abode of Chaos.

Image Credit Flickr User Abode of Chaos

To all intents and purpose the Abode of Chaos looks, from a distance, like a squat - the kind of place you might find in the center of Amsterdam or Berlin, not in a small village on the outskirsts of Paris.  However, the place is owned by Thierry Ehrmann who founded the Server Group - the company that manages an enormous database of art auction quotations.  With over 400 employees the organisation has a revenue of around 70m Euros. It ain't no squat.

Image Credit Flickr User Abode of Chaos

Ehrmann works from the Abode of Chaos. The 17th century mansion style house has been converted in to a replica war zone - and as you can imagine the locals are deeply unhappy about it.  However, although Ehrmann has been fined for unauthorised construction work he has not been told to restore the house to its former state.  As a war zone it was perhaps inevitable that Julian Assange would appear there - albeit only in the form of art.

Image Credit Wikimedia

This is the entrance to the Abode of Chaos. You can see perhaps why the other local residents mau not like it in their village - but it does look extremely interesting.