Bidspirit auction | Itai Zalait

Itai Zalait - ''Bibi King'' 2018. On December 6, 2016, Itai Zlait placed the ”King Bibi” exhibit in Rabin Square - a gilded statue of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which rose to a height of 4.5 meters. According to him, ”the tectonic changes taking place in the country and in the world” prompted him to turn his art to topical social questions. The statue received wide media coverage and was purchased by a collector and Dr. of US history who collects statues of dictators overthrown by the people, such as the statue of Saddam Hussein in his collection. The sculpture offered in front of you is a bronze sculpture made by the artist, a numbered series of only 10 sculptures Bibi King statue made of bronze on a metal base Height 26.5 cm Signed and dated Minister Regev also commented on the placement of the statue: ”The only golden calf in Israel is Netanyahu's hatred.” According to the artist, the motives for placing the statue did not come from a political position, but from a desire to examine the limits of artistic freedom, and to provoke a discourse on freedom of expression, pluralism and tolerance. In this work he sought to reflect the social reality in Israel and to present a mirror to the processes that are taking place in the State of Israel. Following this action, a discourse emerged from the right and left around the issues of freedom of expression, the boundaries of art and political art in the public sphere. In an interview with the New York Times, he said that ”only time will tell whether this action is a provocation or a prophecy. German, Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera and television networks in Turkey and Iran. In 2018 one of the replicas of the statue was sold to an American collector with the world's largest collection of dictators' sculptures. He made a replica of the statue in bronze (300 kg) The originals of dictators from around the world who have been collected in the last 30 years. The sculpture was toppled shortly after it was supposed to be evacuated by the artist (see photos)