HERO a Firenze – Omaggio al David: Saracino interpreta Michelangelo, Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze – Maggio, Dicembre 2015
HERO for Florence – Homage to David: Saracino interprets Michelangelo, Accademia Gallery, Florence – May, Dec, 2015
A partire da un’idea condivisa con Anna Santucci, direttrice organizzativa PMG, una nuova edizione della scultura Hero di Antonio Pio Saracino è stata installata alla Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze a partire da maggio fino a dicembre 2015 con l’organizzazione di PMG Italia la co-curatela di Matteo Innocenti – nel periodo di Expo Milano 2015, per cui è stato scelto proprio il David di Michelangelo come simbolo dell’eccellenza italiana. L’iniziativa è promossa dalla Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, l’Ambasciata Italiana a Washington DC e PMG.
La scultura pubblica dell’architetto e designer Antonio Pio Saracino – Hero – è stata installata nella sua prima versione a Three Bryant Park, New York, nel 2013 come dono del governo italiano e Eni a simbolo dell’amicizia tra l’Italia e gli Stati Uniti. Hero, ispirata al David di Michelangelo, è una delle opere disegnata da Saracino come parte della doppia installazione The Guardians: Hero and Superhero, progetto a cura di Helen Varola.
La nuova edizione di Hero, commissionata da Global emerging Markets Group (GEM, con sede a New York), esibita presso la Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, sarà più grande di quella di Bryant Park, raggiungendo le stesse dimensioni del David (5,2m. / 17ft). La statua, di circa 5t., è costruita a Carrara, usando la stessa pietra scelta da Michelangelo.
“Hero”, a public sculpture at Three Bryant Park, New York by acclaimed Italian architect and designer Antonio Pio Saracino, was commissioned in 2013 as a gift by the Italian government and Eni to symbolize friendship between Italy and the United States. “Hero”, inspired by Michelangelo’s “David” is one of two works Saracino designed as a pairing (the other work is entitled “Superhero”) known as “The Guardians: Hero and Superhero.” The project,on view indefinitely was organized by the Cultural Attachè of the Embassy of Italy Washington DC, Renato Miracco and New York based curator Helen Varola.
A new edition of Saracino’s “Hero,” will be on display at the Accademia Gallery, Florence during Expo Milano 2015, the global exhibition that Italy hosts from May 1 to October 31, 2015. “Hero,” addressing Michelangelo’s “David,” which has been selected to represent the Italian Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015 as an historic symbol of Italian excellence, is being promoted by the Accademia Gallery in Florence, the Italian Embassy in Washington DC and PMG Italia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzrcurrFOp0
The new Italian edition of “Hero,” specially commissioned by New York-based Global Emerging Markets Group (GEM) and to be exhibited at the Accademia Gallery, Florence, will be larger than the Bryant Park ‘Hero’ – standing as tall as the original “David” 17ft / 5,2m. The 11,000 lb marble “Hero” will be created in Carrara, Italy with the same stone Michelangelo used to create “David.” “Hero” will be exhibited in the courtyard of the Accademia Gallery, Florence, just a few meters from Michelangelo’s “David” from May through September 2015. The Academia Gallery welcomes 1.3 million visitors per year (only second to the Vatican Museum).
Saracino states, “I never would have expected, two years later, to receive the great honor to see a new edition of “Hero” in the Accademia of Florence, in the same place as Michelangelo’s “David.” With the New York “Hero,” I wanted to create a symbolic protector of New York City, as “David” was intended as protector of Florence. The statue celebrates the superhuman and the inspiration that it channels. The anthropomorphic layered architectural constructions display the universal ability of mankind to cement its own presence in the world with its perennial construction skills.”
Director of the Accademia Gallery, Florence, Angelo Tartuferi states “Antonio Pio Saracino has revived the matter of “David,” the white Carrara marble, for a modern reinterpretation of the sculpture, designed not for a museum or an art gallery, but for a public space in Manhattan, thus placing itself even in this respect on the trail of the original intention by Michelangelo. The best hope is that the “Hero” can represent, in the eyes of the men of our day, the same values of freedom, justice and civic pride realized by Florentines at the height of the Renaissance by Michelangelo’s “David.” The Accademia Gallery in Florence, along the Italian Embassy in Washington, is pleased to present the work of Antonio Pio Saracino, which qualifies as one of the most intelligent, modern and qualitatively most significant interpretations in terms of the execution of one of the highest signs of Western culture.”
Peter de Svastich, Managing Director, GEM GROUP states: “GEM is very proud to be involved with this wonderful art project that unites the timeless qualities of one of the great works of art in Western Civilization (Michelangelo’s “David”) with a brilliant modern sculpture that echoes the finest traditions of Italian craftsmanship and blends them with a more contemporary artistic vision. GEM considers it an honor to have worked with Antonio Pio Saracino, the Galleria dell’ Accademia, the Curators of this amazing art collection that surrounds this unique venue, the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C..”
Helen Varola, Curator, “The Guardians: Hero and Superhero”, New York states: “Saracino’s new edition of “Hero” nods to Michelangelo’s “David,” defender of the city of Florence as a contemporary civic champion who offers protection and surveillance, also suggests a long history of vulnerability spanning centuries, politics, and cultures.”
Matteo Innocenti, Curator and PMG’s scientific Manager: “If we were to define Antonio Pio Saracino’s interpretation of Michelangelo’s David in Florence, “Philological” would be the right adjective.
To confront with such an important model, and in the very city where the David was created and where its fame has thrived through all these years, represents for the artist both a challenge and an act of generosity. It is a challenge regarding Saracino’s personal artistic research, a chance to focus on some of the formal aspects of the sculpture, through the respectful and concrete confrontation with such a masterpiece; and it is an act of generosity because to try to decline the David’s classical spirit with a more contemporary and actual shape means to strongly believe in the power of all that is contemporary, and striving to show its potential to the world.”