The devil may well wear Prada, but at a biennial
exhibition of sacred art in Italy, a statue of the Virgin Mary is
donning Louis Vuitton, local newspaper Il Centro reported on
Thursday.
The veil traditionally covering the Virgin's head bears the
French luxury brand's trademark "LV" logo in golden letters
decorating bags -- many of them counterfeit -- around the
world.
Francesco De Molfetta, 31, said he created the work to "denounce
a society based on the cult of appearance through the use of a
brand that represents the search for ephemeral happiness."
"This new way of interpreting sacred art is along the lines of
the famous work presented (in 1999 in Venice by Maurizio) Cattelan
that showed a wax icon depicting Pope John Paul II being crushed by
a meteor," the curator of the biennial Giuseppe Bacci told Il
Centro.
"It is a way to hit the visitors' unconscious," he added.
The biennial is held at Isola del Gran Sasso in the central
region of Abruzzo.
Milan native De Molfetta's works have been on show in Tokyo, at
the T20 contemporary art gallery of Murcia Spain and at the museum
of Besancon in France.
