Venus of the rags
Rivoli
- Artist: Michelangelo Pistoletto
- Location: Venus of the rags
This Arte Povera installation features a provocative and seemingly clashing pairing of a reproduction of the Venus with the apple by the neoclassical artist Bertel Thorvaldsen with a pile of multi-coloured clothes. The pose and proportions of the sculpture are reminiscent of those of the Venus de Milo and Venus Callipyge, so this is an experiment with double imitation that represents the inclusion of classicism in the era of technical reproduction. The industrial plaster cast was mass produced, as were the rags that the goddess is seemingly about to walk through, thus contaminating her canon with revolutionary chaos.
