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Di­pin­ti e te­sto di
Va­len­ti­no Rus­so

Edi­ting di
Ali­ce Mi­glia­vac­ca

Ca­te­go­ria
Om­bre la­ten­ti

Da­ta di pub­bli­ca­zio­ne
4 Mag­gio 2023

Wrestling VS. Art

Wre­stling VS. Art is a se­ries of pain­ting of wre­stlers per­for­ming the so-cal­led “Frog Splash”. This mo­ve con­sists of jum­ping on top of the op­po­nent, who is al­rea­dy on the floor, from the top ro­pe of the ring. The idea be­hind the pain­tings ori­gi­na­ted from the wish to re­vi­sit, with a fun­ny twi­st, the fa­mous work by Da­vid Hoc­k­ney “A big­ger splash”. Ori­gi­nal­ly the re­sult was meant to be a se­ries of frog spla­shes in the sty­le of Da­vid Hoc­k­ney, so to crea­te a sort of art-hi­sto­ri­ca­l/­pop cul­tu­re pun, but af­ter star­ting to work on the can­vas, the idea was strug­gling to ta­ke sha­pe. Da­vid Hockney’s mi­mic and sty­le we­re hard to re­pro­du­ce, but af­ter the ini­tial fru­stra­tion may­be the mes­sy ap­proach on the can­vas could re­la­ti­ve­ly ea­si­ly be­co­me a moc­ke­ry of ano­ther fa­mous painter’s sty­le: Ge­rhard Ri­ch­ter. His “blur­red” ef­fect was so­me­how ea­sier to re­pli­ca­te, or at lea­st ea­sier to aspi­re to spoof.

Wre­stling vs Art is the end re­sult of the crea­tio­nal pro­cess and it ca­me spon­ta­neou­sly af­ter all of the can­va­ses whe­re do­ne.

On one hand it’s the ar­ti­st him­self that has been wre­stling with “Art” whi­le try­ing to trans­la­te the pro­ject on­to the can­vas; on the other hand, the ti­tle al­so re­fers to the idea of fic­tion and spec­ta­cle, a point of con­tact bet­ween wre­stlers and ar­tists.

Wre­stling VS. Art
Ex­hi­bi­tion view at Fon­de­ria 20.9, Ve­ro­na (IT)
Group show Con­ta­mi­na­tion and may­be even mo­re
co-cu­ra­ted by Da­vi­de Ghel­li San­tu­lia­na and The Bal­co­ny col­lec­ti­ve
2019