il Cenacolo Vinciano
1940-2022
Rossi Riccardo + El Mudo Velázquez
Caran d'Ache on Pictures from Milano ( year 1940 )
70 x 100 CM
Riccardo Rossi: During one of my trip back home, I had the chance to visit again the place where the Cenacolo is still standing, after looking at a dramatic show of tourist doing selfies instead of feeling with their guts the painting, I accidentally turned my eyes to some side imaginary that the museum exposed to the public. In this pictures we can actually see how a wall of sandbags saved and protect during the second world war this masterpiece of Leonardo.
Astonished by the discovery I started to feel the necessity to play along and bring back during this war times what men can do while bombs fly over our heads.
Thanking my Crew Partner "El Mudo Velázquez" I tried to go deep inside the meanings and history, creating a storytelling through colours and details of what this painting meant and taught to me as an Italian Emigrant.
I won't spoil too much what is actually painted over the sandbags but I need to testify that, today while the War is still on, populism and rage are heating up the Color Palette, me and my mates look up to the sky, remembering yesterday to survive the present.
As an illustrator I have to admit that facing this wall, has been way more than a simple exercise of representation and colouring, starting from the name I had to relate and the history that belongs to it.
Augmented Reality Artwork
After painting the Original Artwork by hand with El Mudo Velázquez we created some animated content to explain visually the narrative blended in this sandbags graffiti.
I'll upload here the video for you to enjoy it and would be lovely if you can buy a copy of the Artwork directly from Artivive's official Marketplace.
Et Cenaculi - AR Print
" Not many people can understand what this painting is all about, and why it still stands.
The difficulty of understanding subjects and perspectives might be only the first issue for viewer of this unbelievable post pandemic period of time.
Iconography and history blow out each sandbag, hidden meanings and allegory trough a rough pencil line exploit the dimensions of this surreal scene, paying the necessary respect of this unpleasant view of a Masterpiece. "
El Mudo Velázquez
