The “Artist” – his third millennium avatar – / is still pursuing an exponential mode of “being there” / because of that umbilical cord with the rite, / with the shamanic paradox of an “absent” presence, / made of the unstable awareness / that any epiphany of that presence / rises from its own “cruel” self-denial. / (pseudo Artaud)

Step right up Ladies and Gentlemen! Come on in you who accept the seal of “artist just for one day”! Because it doesn’t surprise you. As a matter of fact you smile at the paradox of the artist’s presence in the thousand forms of his absence (where could The Divine Jack be if not Elsewhere?); this archetypal paradox between irony and tragedy, with the brazen features of the ostension; of curators who carelessly put themselves on display; of plants rooted in the idea of not talking and prêts à porter coffins that give rest to those who do not feel ready. In short this is a Circus of oxymorons – theatrical and exhibitionistic, let’s face it! – that make us feel alive precisely because of their dis-continuity. If this paradox (of Art) still remains grotesque, how could we define any effort to legitimize it? Scatological? As for our Future it is be better to ask to a dog than to entrust it to jackals. Faute de mieux…

Here is The Great Cuppone & The Divine Jack Big Show, the Circus of the Oxymore, as in more naif times Barnum & Bailey Circus came to tickle the unsatisfied prudery of the Wunderkammer heirs. For four weeks there will be voyeuristic-balagancik-artistic activities in the name of the o-o-o-o of Petit Ernst. The interiors become the exterior , the project room , the square divided by the redundant Circus sign: on this side the attractions and beyond the numbers (everyday different and repeated in rotation). Step right up Ladies and Gentlemen!

we can be artists just for one day

stop! at the entrance, if you want to go in, the employee (and who would have said it?) will brand you like an ox, he will stamp you with a red “A” (“A” for “artist”? for “anarchist”?…) and will nominate you ”artist for a day” / to have it though you will need to stain yourself: but is it the employee that will legitimizes you as an artist or is it you who legitimizes him as an employee authorized to stamp you? / and, if you think about it, only an artist can really understand another artist, but also the person in line before you and the one after you… / they’re all artists? or maybe only him? or no one? / while you are thinking about it, that “A” has already faded a bit / when you will exit it will already be disappearing. just like the work of art? just like the author? / it will disappear, and along with it your art and the art of the one who certified you / of course, that’s all it is, and that’s a fact. “…oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh, just for one day!” / invention is a permission, diversity and homologation are certified, the (art)work is a stamp / bureaucratic hypertrophy!

we can be artists just for one day / 2016-2018 / wood, stamp, buffer, artist / site specific live installation / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma 

coming soon

when the game is over (or not started) the curtain encourages the absence of the potential,audience with a soundtrack of phantasmatic physio-pop noises out of the scene (ob-scene). who is on stage? (for professional écouteurs).

the great cuppone and the divine jack’s big show: coming soon / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma / 800 x 450 cm

xxx art curators

as in amsterdam’s red district, inside a red light showcase, everyday a curator finally invests on her/his own image and exposes her/himself with courage.

xxx art curators / 20 art curators, 8 red neon tubes, 2 red velvet curtain, stool / site specific live installation / 2016-2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma / 108 x 220 cm

i cento pittori di via margutta

the great cuppone and the divine jack are very proud to invite “the via margutta’s one hundred painters” to their big show, guest star: romanonfarlastupida.

the great cuppone and the divine jack’s big show: i cento pittori di via margutta / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma / 800 x 450 cm

photos by giorgio sacher

the funhouse mirrors

a world upside down?! / a nursery rhyme for children / a stupid joke as a looking glass / oh noo… noo… it was not me!… / looking glasses are not made to be read / “this is not a donkey”! but if you have read this you are already dumb!

les trahison des paroles / mirror, wood / 2018 / 679 x 99 x 4,5 cm

working title / mirror, wood / 2014-2018 / 598 x 94 x 4,5 cm

death to wear (in the future everyone will be a dead artist for fifteen minutes)

Inspired by Andy Warhol (“in the future everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes”), anyone could try/wear a personalized coffin with the ad aeternum writing “a dead artist is worth twice” (the revitalizing assistance of a hostess is included).

the great cuppone and the divine jack’s big show: death to wear (in the future everyone will be a dead artist for 15 minutes) / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma 

 

art makes you beautiful (in the future everyone will be beautiful for fifteen minutes)

from the show “it only takes five minutes”: in one simple session everyone can become more beautiful forever, with a simple application of a facial mask that will remove all existential aesthetic imperfection (or anesthetic existentialism).

the great cuppone and the divine jack’s big show: art makes you beautiful (in the future everyone will be beautiful for fifteen minutes) / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma

 

strange people: the astonishing speaking plant

attention please!! if you see on the vase signs like “i am not talking with you today!” or “go away! i’m thinking!!”, do not take it personally – for fitoverbose plant-lovers.

the great cuppone and the divine jack’s big show / strange people: the astonishing speaking plant / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma

strange people: the astonishing speaking plant / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma / 110 x 38 x 38 cm

 

strange people: the amazing man without tattoos

how do we decipher, among the hieroglyphic skin of a full-body tattooed tribe, the “natur” of a glabrous skin malgré soi?

strange people: the amazing man without tattoos / site specific live installation / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma 

 

strange people: cubist artists

nine artists perform as go-go dancers on a cube / buskers-style (please put a coin on the saucer)!

strange people: cubist bodybuilders

the bodybuilding of physiology and the physiology of culture in comparison (the brain is a muscle)?

strange people: cubist bodybuilders / site specific live installation / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma

strange people: various human races

mrs bianchi (white), mr neri (black) and mrs rossi (red) prove their anagraphical and chromatic diversity through their IDs on the cube (no racist and sovereign nonsense)

strange people: various human races / site specific live installation / 2018 / macro asilo / museo di arte contemporanea roma