Ask contemporary artists to pay homage to Michelangelo’s David, and you get some surprises: A sculpture of a severed foot. A maze of metal sheets. A video of David morphing into a black woman and a middle-aged man.
The Florence gallery that holds the Renaissance statue says it wanted to take some risks as it celebrates the 500th birthday of an icon that has been gazed upon and gushed over for centuries.
The exhibit marks the first time the Accademia gallery has opened its doors to contemporary artists. The goal is to liven up a city better known for its Renaissance masters.
“We wanted to put some contemporary art right at David’s feet,” Antonio Paolucci, president of Florence’s museums, told The Associated Press during a preview showing Monday. The exhibit, “Forms for David,” opens Tuesday and runs through Sept. 4.
Works by five current artists are mixed up among gilded frames and Renaissance Madonnas in a sky-lit room presided over by David, glowing brighter after a birthday cleaning.
When the statue was unveiled before Florence’s citizens on Sept. 8, 1504, it was quickly hailed as a masterpiece, a depiction of perfect male beauty.
Today, the statue sometimes gets overshadowed by its own myth. With a video, American artist Robert Morris poked fun at the cliches surrounding David — the statue that launched a thousand souvenir-shop knickknacks and refrigerator magnets.
“It’s an object of kitsch for sure,” he said. “I wanted to deconstruct it. Why is it so emblematic?”
His piece is titled “The Birthday Boy.” In a darkened room, two video screens show academics lecturing — somewhat pompously — on Michelangelo’s depiction of the biblical hero who braved Goliath.
David plays air guitar?Their remarks become more and more surreal.
“David, put some pants on and play the air guitar,” one professor urges. The other intones, “Today, David might get his start in a Calvin Klein underwear ad.”
The academics riff on the possible interpretations of the David — an icon of “heroic self-importance”; a symbol of white oppression; a glorification of violent youth. Eventually, the statue morphs into a middle-aged man and a young black woman.
Several of the artists admitted that Michelangelo wasn’t one of their favorites.
In the catalog, Morris refers to the Renaissance master’s well-muscled nudes as “Grade A beef.” German artist Georg Baselitz told reporters that when he first saw the David, “it didn’t appeal to me much.”
Like several other artists, Baselitz made no apparent reference to David in his work and didn’t offer many explanations at a news conference. His sculpture, displayed in David’s shadow, depicts a leg and shin that look like they were carved with a hatchet.
Greek-born artist Jannis Kounellis designed a maze made of iron that visitors can walk into. In one corner lies a heap of coal.
At first glance, the contribution by Luciano Fabro of Italy appears to be nothing more than a huge cylinder, a chunk of stone and a pile of marble dust on the floor. But the cylinder is carved with a pattern; roll it over the dust, and the outline of a nude figure appears.
Fabro also contributed an irreverent self-portrait to the exhibit. Above one of the gallery’s doors, he appears in a photomontage of a Michelangelo fresco, naked and looking straight at the camera.
One touching contribution came from photographer Thomas Struth. For five days, he stood in the Accademia shooting snapshots of tourists as they gazed at the David. Three are on display.
In one, two older men in shorts look upward, openmouthed. In another, two young women tilt their heads to the side and lean over to take David in from a new perspective.
Struth says he doesn’t personally care for art icons like David, but he understands why people love them. Visitors often have strong reactions as they look at the 13.5-foot David, he said.
“With art, sometimes people feel small, unimportant, like they don’t know enough,” he said. Looking at the David, “They kind of expand, they grow.”