Don´t be a douche bag
Categories: Inspiration
My works are filled with corrupt politicians, murderers, swindlers, tyrants, porn stars, religious preachers… I want to present viewers with an ironic but perverse vision of our times and our near future.
-Federico Solmi
As a digital ad-woman, I feel that it´s refreshing to look at industries other than advertising to get my vitamin shot of inspiration.
Having grown up with art-obsessed hippie-parents, I was dragged screaming and kicking around at art galleries and museums from a young age and was scarred for life, but the scars have gradually healed and I have become an art lover myself.
After my dad´s expensive horse-obsession had faded and all 15 racing horses were sold off, my parents established their beloved art gallery, Galleri s.e., in Bergen some 15 years ago. The focus is on young, cutting edge artists. A bunch of them are based in the US, amongst them the Italian artist Federico Solmi. This artist I admire for his incredible drawing skills and radical content of his art.
In 2008 Galleri s.e. showed Solmi´s “The Evil Empire”. Solmi considers this one of his most important works.
This is a video portrait of a future Pope whose violent sex addiction leads to widespread ruin. The video was censored in France and Spain because of it´s controversial content. In addition, his painting ‘Untitled Crucifixion’ was confiscated by the Italian police during the art fair Artefiera Bologna in 2009.
The artist, who lives in New York, was put on trial in his native country, Italy, for obscenity, blasphemy and offense to religion. That same year, the Guggenheim Foundation honored him by awarding him with the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and commissioned work from him. Solmi says in an interview with Renato Miracco: “In an instant, I went from being considered an immoral and degenerate artist to being praised and respected by the press and public.”
This year, curators Sarah Lewis and Daniel Belasco selected Solmi’s latest video, “Douche Bag City” (2010) for exhibition in the prestigious SITE Santa Fe Eighth International Exhibition.
“Douche Bag City” is about greed and corruption in Wall Street. In this work he uses his signature style – painting combined with hand-drawn animation with digital models, through the implementation of computer gaming engines. I think his way of mixing traditional craftmanship with digital media is fascinating. His satire of Wall Street is a critique of the violence inherent in social and economic power structures.
Further, he says, in the interview:
“The obsession with phallic imagery, so evident in several of my animated videos, is a metaphor for a sexist, violent, brutal world. Many of my characters are insatiable tyrants, depraved, corrupt leaders who have only the physical semblance of human beings. They are beasts, not men; victims of their own egos, they act out of instinct, not reason. As history teaches, all it takes is one man’s will to devastate and destroy the lives of millions of people. I use irony and satire as a tool for expressing my bitterness about contemporary society. My works try to examine the current historical context: I use metaphorical language to present my opinions about social problems and malaise. Pop culture, with its false idols, along with gossip and pornography, is a major source of inspiration for my work.”
For me, looking at art is not only a source for inspiration, but also a way of putting things into perspective. Solmi raises some critical questions in his art, and forces me to take my nose out of my mac book pro for just a second. Contemporary art is a reflection of our society. As ad people we need to keep up to date with impulses from our society and cultural life, in order to spot new trends and stay one step ahead.