Slasky - Made In Europe

Made in Europe (Ratto d'Europa) • Artist: Slasky (Italian, born 1972) • Original matrix: Francesco Podesti, Il Ratto d'Europa (1852) • Technique: Digital art / Contemporary graphic processing (Neo-Urban Classic) In the nineteenth-century academic painting by Francesco Podesti, the Phoenician princess Europe is seduced and abducted by Zeus, who for the occasion metamorphoses into a spotless and majestic bull, a classic symbol of fertilizing strength, divine vigor, and propulsive drive. In Slasky's destabilizing digital revisitation, the mythological narrative undergoes a drastic and bitter formal downgrading: the noble divine animal disappears, replaced by an inflatable spotted cow, equipped with obvious air valves and a conspicuous udder. This iconographic shift transforms the work into a sharp geopolitical and cultural satire: The inflatable cow as simulacrum: In these dark and complex historical times, the animal no longer represents the proud and untamed primordial power of the mythic bull that founded a continent. It becomes instead a beach toy, hollow and fragile, a metaphor for a deflated Europe, lacking a spine and reduced to a mere object of serial consumption or a bureaucratic shell. The invitation to reaction: The figure of Europe, reclining on the back of this postiche structure, retains Podesti's neoclassical austere pose but appears tragically anachronistic. The work visually denounces the state of art and politics today, suggesting a strong conceptual contrast: whereas contemporary Europe passively lets itself be dragged by an artificial market (the cow), it should instead lift its head, rediscovering its identity dignity and the original propositive strength of the bull. Slasky's pop and urban aesthetics thus act as a short circuit: the stark contrast between the perfection of Italian classicism and the plastic inflatable’s artificature exposes the structural weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and immobility of the old continent. Giclée on Hahnemühle 350g + certificate of authenticity « Art is not about representing new things, but about representing them with novelty » Slasky is a renowned Italian artist whose works have been exhibited in solo and group shows internationally The artist has the capacity to fuse classical artworks with techniques of contemporary digital art. With his neo-urban classic style, he unites tradition and modernity, bringing the protagonists of the original artworks into contemporary social and artistic environments. Upcoming exhibition FACE 2 FACE March 5th Laundry Studios 2 Warburton Rd, London E8 3RT UK Recent Exhibitions Tokyo Open Art | Art on Loop Exhibition Venue Address 3 Chome-20-18 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0001, Japan Parallax Art Fair Kensington Town Hall Hornton Street London W8 7NX 2024 Solo Exhibition CONTEMPORARY VENICE Palazzo Pisani-Revedin S. Marco, 4013A , 30124 Venice, Italy ARTLAB Benjamin Eck Gallery Munich, Germany 2021 MIA FAIR The Informationen Photography Art Fair Italy Milan, Italy ST-ART, STRASBOURG 2021 25 - 28 NOV. 2021 PARC EXPO STRASBOURG SM'ART AIX-EN-PROVENCE, 2021 14 - 18 OCTOBER 2021 BOOTH 123A 2021 MIA FAIR The Informationen Photography Art Fair Italy Milan, Italy Lausanne Art Fair Beaulieu Lausanne Booth 59 Swiss Lille ArtUp 2021 Lille, France StreetArt//UrbanArt Legnano, Italy 2020 Woodward Gallery WashYourHands Exhibition New York City, NY RedSheep Gallery Work in Paper Stockholm, Sweden 2019 Wopart Art Fair 2019 / Centro Esposizioni - Lugano, Swiss Lang Leve Rembrandt Rijks Museum Amsterdam

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