User:Later34/sandbox

NOTE: This sandbox draft is for a class project at the University of Georgia. It will not be published as an encyclopedia article. Ampersand (&) (b. June 3, 1984) is a renowned Slovak artist, eccentric, and provocateur. He is considered to be the founding and leading figures of the influential contemporary Art Populism movement. Known for several public stunts in the art world , (&) continues to polarize audiences worldwide. (&) cites his major influences as Banksy, Ryan Holiday, Socrates, and Michel Foucault.

Early life and family
Little is known about (&)'s early life, or relationship with his parents.

Education
(&) has at times railed against what he terms the "establishment art neo-socialists" which, he has posited, "control the community of truthful art seekers by establishing hegemony of inter-capitalistic approval mechanisms in the production and attribution of art" . He does not possess a university degree.

Career
(&) began his public career in 2019, after a long period of what he has termed "thoughtful socio-monastic reflection".

Wartburg Museum Incident
(&) was originally noticed by the national art scene for a viral video in which he violently defaced and removed a painting of his own creation displayed in the P.Z. Wartburg Museum of Fine Art on March 15th. (&) later described the act as "a protest against the oppressive sub-formulations inherent to the art displayment hyperstructure".

White House Incident
On April 3, 2019, (&) began suggesting on Twitter and through a press release that one of his paintings had been sold to Donald Trump and displayed in the White House. (&) reported that "I can’t tell you what the painting is of, but I may or may not have taped $5,000 to the back of it." One of (&)'s enthusiastic fans was arrested for breaking into the White House in search of the painting. In a statement from (&), he responded to the fan's actions by saying “I never meant for anyone to do something like that. I mean, it’s very artistically liberating to get arrested, but it’s a little to [sic] political to be cool considering it’s at the President’s house or whatever." . (&) also tweeted about the incident, saying "Oops, someone broke into the White House to look for my painting... Probably should have mentioned it was in a White Castle restaurant... Arthur says I need to publicly apologize so here we are. Sorry 🤷🏼‍♂️" . The man arrested for trespassing was released from custody after being fined.

Empty Canvas Incident
On April 19th, 2018, (&) issued a press release advertising a "mystery painting" that had been independently appraised to be worth over $3 million USD. The painting is set to be auctioned off by mail-in bid, with the highest bidder recognized at a prominent upcoming art sale in New York City. On April 30th, 2019, a sweepstakes was held to award one of (&)'s followers with a miniature replica of the mystery painting. The winner was one Dr. Joshua King, of Athens, GA

Resources

 * Ampersand's Instagram account contains many of the artist's works-in-progress.
 * Ampersand's Twitter @Amp_Er_Sand account is active.