Well it depends on what you mean by artillery. Many anti aircraft (AA) guns are artillery guns, such as the FLAK 18/36/37/41. There's also the British QF 3.7 inch AA gun. There's a few other models that have all been extensively used as anti aircraft weapons. Those types of weapons have been used against aircraft with frequency.

What he is likely referring to though, is military ballooning with blimps and regular field artillery. Ballooning began to be used in war sometime in the early 1700s and was a huge advantage for the army that used them. Thus they became huge targets and were regularly engaged by the enemy to take them out of the battle.

During the American Civil War, the Union Balloon Corps flew hundreds to thousands of missions during a two year span without a single balloon being lost to enemy fire.

During WW1, ballooning became super important for directing artillery fire and troop movements. They also became huge targets as guns developed better range and the first war planes came into existence. Extensive efforts were used to keep balloons out of the range of gunfire and AA artillery. If balloons went below 1,000 feet, they were often shot down by machineguns or AA artillery. More commonly though, they were targeted by enemy fighters who were nicknamed balloon busters.

So in short, balloons were often targeted because of the advantages they posed to the enemy. They saw a rise in use until WW1 when technology caught up and made sitting in the sky in an unarmored, flammable basket a terrible idea.

He understands what an AA gun is so I think he is specifically asking if more conventional ground based artillery have done this. What makes an AA gun artillery?