Getting closer to nowadays, the spread
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2025 6:26 am
rs and Thanatos : a fatal relationship which has often weaved together the artists' lives. Guillaume Apollinnaire, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele dedicated mostly their entire artistic production to this thematic, and it's quite curious that all these formidable artists died for the same horrible virus, the Spanish Flu , better known as the 1918 flu pandemic. Lasting from January 1918 to December 1920, this virus infected 500 million people – about a quarter of the world's population at the time and the death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.
of HIV and drug loan database dependence brought many artists to testify the violence and aggressiveness of those modern plagues: Andy Wharhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat are the undisputed protagonists of Art in the '80s, they became Icons of an enormous and quick success, fast as their own life. Their later work is addressed to political and societal themes (especially homosexuality and AIDS), including sexual allusions that turned into social activism to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness. They have been " cursed messengers " of our sick society , which has found its peak into the pandemic we are living in these days.
COVID-19 is irrevocably changing our lifestyle and our habits, it is questioning all the certainties we built up regarding Politics, Finance, Public Health and contemporary artists can't remain unconcerned about it.
Even if maybe too early to speak about a specific Art Movement ( Post-Optimism/Post-Globalization ?), the first signs of such revolutionary moment are already showing us in a clear and direct way: a version of Francesco Hayez's famous Kiss wearing a coronavirus mask and holding disinfectant gel by street artist Tvboy or the new illustrations paying homage to the real-life heroes (doctors, nurses, truck drivers) of the Italian comic book writer/artist Milo Manara appeared in many Italian cities walls as well as online on the last week of February.
of HIV and drug loan database dependence brought many artists to testify the violence and aggressiveness of those modern plagues: Andy Wharhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat are the undisputed protagonists of Art in the '80s, they became Icons of an enormous and quick success, fast as their own life. Their later work is addressed to political and societal themes (especially homosexuality and AIDS), including sexual allusions that turned into social activism to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness. They have been " cursed messengers " of our sick society , which has found its peak into the pandemic we are living in these days.
COVID-19 is irrevocably changing our lifestyle and our habits, it is questioning all the certainties we built up regarding Politics, Finance, Public Health and contemporary artists can't remain unconcerned about it.
Even if maybe too early to speak about a specific Art Movement ( Post-Optimism/Post-Globalization ?), the first signs of such revolutionary moment are already showing us in a clear and direct way: a version of Francesco Hayez's famous Kiss wearing a coronavirus mask and holding disinfectant gel by street artist Tvboy or the new illustrations paying homage to the real-life heroes (doctors, nurses, truck drivers) of the Italian comic book writer/artist Milo Manara appeared in many Italian cities walls as well as online on the last week of February.