Da Michelangelo 1978

Curator: Tano Festa’s "Da Michelangelo," painted in 1978 using acrylic on canvas with stencil techniques...it has this uncanny feel, doesn't it? Editor: It's brooding! The limited color palette almost makes it feel… ancient, yet those gridlines feel thoroughly modern. What a combination! Curator: Precisely! It’s like a classical bust trapped in a computer game. Festa often played with iconic imagery from art history, especially from the Renaissance. Here, we see this reference to Michelangelo’s sculptures deconstructed with pop-art sensibilities. Editor: That grid throws me a little. I understand the stencil, the flattening of the image, that push and pull. The figure is classical but the stencil gives it that slightly robotic sensibility. But the grids almost make the classical form a prisoner. Curator: A beautiful idea! It could represent the institutional forces, or even the art market itself. The grid constrains, commodifies. And using stencils… it hints at reproduction, mass culture swallowing up artistic originality. Do you know, I also think those colors evoke the late 70's beautifully? Avocado bathrooms! Editor: It really speaks to the time, this sort of punk repurposing and institutional criticism. It’s a little rough, not super polished. Curator: He isn’t just copying Michelangelo, he's sampling him, turning a marble god into something… accessible. Even mischievous. Editor: This painting speaks to me of tension, this mix of high and low, handmade and mass-produced. A kind of beautiful cultural unease, wouldn't you say? Curator: Absolutely! Festa takes Michelangelo, throws him into the late 70s, adds a dash of punk, and serves us a cocktail of contradictions. It's what makes his work so compelling. Editor: And now, seeing it framed this way, I'm struck by how such a specific artistic moment can still resonate so strongly with contemporary anxieties about originality and artistic value. Thank you for sharing!