Relentless

Viale's monuments to the absurd.

David’s arms covered in Russian tattoos, and The Big Bang in the form of a Popcorn kernel, expertly carved Styrofoam marble. Magic.

Fabio Viale’s sculptural work makes a very special kind of a statement. A typical example of the Italian artist’s subdued irrevence is how he has manipulated the quiet magnificence of Michelangelo’s ‘David’ into a disquieting statement of manhood – he takes what is famously under-represented, and magnifies it to absurd proportions.

Skull & Il Vostro Sara Il Nostro, both 2008

Big Bang, White Marble 40 x 42 x 48 cm

He perfectly emulates the essence of the renaissance and ancient Greek Kouros only to bastardise his hard work with preposterously crude Russian tattoos. Thus, Vile Viale delivers antiquity to the twenty-first century through the dark, distorted lens of Gulag folklore.

Even if this all sounds a bit controversial it is not at all tasteless. The black and white nature of his art and the classic material he has chosen adds an element of nobility to a body of work that is at its core far from noble.