May 5 – “Hero” is the personal interpretation of Michelangelo’s David by architect and designer Antonio Pio Saracino, who has lived and worked for more than a decade in New York. The work will be exposed today in the courtyard of the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. Made of the same Carrara marble, Hero looks like a contemporary and original breakdown of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the size of which is imitated in Saracino’s work, Hero (5.17 meters) corresponds to the original, but weighs less than 5 tons, against the 5.56 tons of Michelangelo’s art piece. Until September 20, Hero will be the star of the exhibition entitled “Hero in Florence. A Tribute to David: Saracino reinterprets Michelangelo,” sponsored by the Directorate of the Galleria dell’Accademia, in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Washington DC, Pmg Italy, and the Gem Group – which commissioned the work, which is a copy of public sculpture commissioned in 2013 to the Italian artist by the Italian Government and Eni, currently on display in the Three Bryant Park in New York, to symbolize the friendship between Italy and the United States. After its permanence in Florence, starting at the end of September, the sculpture will be on display in Milan, at Expo 2015. For the exhibition of Hero – curated by Angelo Tartuferi, Renato Miracco, Helen Varola and Matteo Innocenti – a base in cement was prepared, designed to support the imposing sculpture. Saracino was inspired by the incomparable beauty of Michelangelo’s understanding of shapes and forms, which were translated into modernity in an original way, through the decomposition of 33 volumes in parallel planes of various thicknesses. The artist revealed that he would have “never expected, two years after the sculpture in New York, to receive the great honor of seeing a new edition of Hero at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, in the same place as Michelangelo’s David. With the completion of the first Hero, I wanted to create a symbolic protector of New York City, as David is for Florence. The statue celebrates the superman, while its stratified anthropomorphic inspiration and architectural constructions display the universal capacity of mankind to cement its presence in the world thanks to its perpetual construction skills.” The Italian Ambassador to the United States, Claudio Bisogniero, emphasized that “David is such a strong symbol of Italian heritage, and now a Guardian of the friendship between our two countries. The year of Italian Culture in the United States could not have left a better legacy.” (Red)
