The sacred shrines is a series of 12 artworks that re-interpret the "Madonelle" or "aediculae" architectural elements typical of central and southern Italy, which contain industrial products associated with Byzantine icons, with typical depictions such as Christ Pantocrator, The Madonna and Child, and the "eye of god who sees all" all juxtapositions only seemingly at odds.
Here I present a selection of three:
The first display case associates 98 Durex "Invisible" packs with a traditional Russian icon depicting the all-seeing Eye of God, also called the Eye of Providence. The ironic play between the sacred and the profane, is all in the reference to the one whom, believers or not, we summon during the climax... Please scroll this gallery to the seventh post to find the video https://www.instagram.com/p/CgPNOUiKnKe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
And not perhaps the gaze turned inward to "ékstasis," the master way to see the invisible: the "deus absconditus"?
The second display case pairs 77 packages of long-life milk from the Centrale del Latte di Roma with a reproduction of a Byzantine Madonna and Child, one of the oldest depictions in Christian art.
This iconography, which often depicts a nursing Mother, dates back to prehistoric civilizations, such as the Nuragic, but became common only in Ancient Egypt, with Isis and Horus.
It is therefore an image that is well embedded in our subconscious, in the trove of our archetypes. In my view, the large-scale food industry of opulent societies has replaced the nurturing function of the Mother, exacerbating its symbolism and psychological effects: industry as super-Mother able to provide endless gratification to the somewhat "infantilized" citizen-consumer.
The third displays case I used 60 beautiful limited-edition rice packs made by a London design studio for the Milanese company Riso D'Uomo, inspired by the actual floor of Milan Cathedral, in three variations to which I associated the scene of the Annunciation. The background is a green damask, a typical "ecclesial" fabric, which in Christianity indicates the total regeneration of consciousness, through charity and hope.