Exhibition « Enigma della modernità » at Spazio Officina, a collateral project of the exhibition  » Tiepolo Nero » at the M.A.X. Museum, Chiasso, 2012
Special Mention for Contemporary Art Collection, Chiasso.

(…) In the Gian Battista Tiepolo fresco « The Banquet of Cleopatra » (Palazzo Labia, Venice, ca. 1750) the painter showed the absolute richness representing the story of how Marc-Antoine, in Venice, has offered in honour of the Egyptian queen, a celebration that would have marked the « non plus ultra » of the opulence. The most expensive dishes followed endless. The Queen was not impressed and made a deal with Marc-Antoine: she would provide a dish even more expensive than those offered there. She took her pearl from the earring, it dissolved in vinegar and drank the contents. The fresco by Tiepolo, shows Cleopatra with the pearl and Marc-Antoine, while a black servant gives her a vinegar glass (…) (p.443 The Art History, Ernst H. Gombrich).
Tiepolo frescos shows richness and magnificence full of angels. To watch Tiepolo today, for me, means thinking about how the wealth of the world is distributed: a small piece of privileged citizens live in abundance, while the majority of the population is sharing the rest. The Arab Spring is a reaction to this situation, not very democratic, denouncing abuse of power extended over the whole Mediterranean. An angel is a messenger, so I think that today it is the blogger.

I worked plastically with fabric, sewing and thread to create cyber-angels, where hieroglyphs of the web are the new international language that I embroidered on fabric. The « Black Putto » is created with a black glossy fabric and is formally inspired by the folds of the baroque dress painted on works of Tiepolo. The « Black Putto » has printed inside with still video taken from YouTube posted by an anonymous citizens denouncing scenes from the Arab revolutions.

Anonymous citizens, who had the urgency to share information on virtual portals, giving voice to the individual becoming anonymous authors, without name and identity, publishing video of denounce saving themselves from a dictatorial regimes. The artwork also raises the question of copyright: when the recognition of the « I » (the ©) becomes more important than the message itself and the other way around.