Fedele Spadafora “Everything Will Be All Right”
Gitana Rosa Gallery
This event has ended.
“The future is here.”
This is the tagline from George Lucas’ 1971 film THX 1138. Set in the 25th century, the film depicts a dystopian future replete with black-clad robot cops who chant a mantra to their victims… “everything will be all right.”
In his latest paintings, Spadafora offers his version of the archetypal enforcers that have appeared in countless science fiction films, both as humans and robots. While their menacing presence has offered audiences the dreaded notion of things to come, this idea of security by enforcement has become a reality in our post-911 society. In fact, the future is here.
By stripping the real character of these android police officers and repackaging them in a sanitized format, Spadafora removes anything negative and offers us creatures easy to embrace… as palatable as Hello Kitty. In the central work, Everything Will Be All Right, Spadafora uses The Battle of the Naked Men (c. 1465-1475), an engraving by the Florentine goldsmith and sculptor Antonio del Pollaiuolo, as a blueprint. Spadafora presents us with a scene of orchestrated violence. His android creatures have gone haywire and are now at battle with each other. Perhaps the subjects of their monitoring have been vanquished.
Fedele Spadafora is a realist who brings a modern sensibility to classical training. A former student of Nelson Shanks and his Studio Incamminati, Spadafora uses the tools of realism to explore the modern landscape. The transmission of both television and memory—and the qualities they share—are recurring themes in his work. His work has been exhibited and collected throughout the US and Europe. This will be his first solo show at Gitana Rosa Gallery.
Media
Schedule
from October 26, 2013 to November 24, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-11-01 from 19:00 to 22:00