Buren did not believe that art needed to be in a gallery to be appreciated as art. In light of this, he put his striped posters all over cities billboards and outside of various galleries illegally. His rebelious nature and iconic stripes caused controversy all over the world.

Buren was not invited to participate in exhibition “When attitudes become form” in Bern, Switzerland so he added his artwork all over the city covering billboards with his stripes. In 1969 he was arrested for covering billboards and asked to leave Switzerland.

Guggenheim museum removed one of his works the night before the opening because other artists said his work had a negative impact on theirs. Peinture-Sculpture (Painting-Sculpture), 1971

He blocked the entrance of the Apollinaire Gallery in Milan with his striped paper, closing down the gallery in 1968. As his first solo exhibition, Buren glued this green and white stripe paper on the doors of the gallery to open up questions of if the gallery is the only place that art can inhabit. Buren pictured on the left.

Los Angeles bus benches and station with Buren’s striped posters