Starting point
Art, Women and Irreverence
The idea comes from a personal rearrangement of the lay, social, and theological aspects linked with the image of the Virgin Mary, the archetypal woman in Western culture, concretized on the artistic plan through a radical and innovative reinterpretation of its iconography and representative technique.
The beginning point for this reflection is the Virgin represented in Masaccio’s “Madonna with Child and Saint Anna” (also known as Sant’Anna Metterza), held now in the Uffizi Galleries, painted in 1424-25 by the 23-year-old Masaccio in collaboration with Masolino da Panicale.
In the author’s opinion, art must thrill, astound, destabilize, challenge, arouse, and follow the human being on a road that cannot and must not be restricted to a purely visual experience or a purely economic-speculative interest.
Evolution and daily life
Madonnas and CryptoMADONNE
Starting with the innovative purpose linked to the sense of spatiality, humanity, and reality associated with Masaccio’s work, it was possible to spark a reflection that led the figure of Our Lady to shed the role of mater dei conferred on a theological level, to become the archetype of a woman in every aspect of history and everyday life in our times.
The CryptoMadonne’s experiences, as well as their multiform appearance, perfectly fulfill this urge for investigation, transforming into tangible and genuine possibilities that would have marked his hypothetical life beyond the framework of Salvation history. As a result, it is a more human Madonna, descended into the world’s existence, examined both in its good and bad aspects.
The same distinctive character that has always marked Our Lady’s figure is here retrieved and reconstructed in a conceptual key that recognizes the digital world as a founding place of our culture and our way of viewing people and the globe. Through this bold and creative reimagining of Marian iconography, Our Lady enters the digital sphere, becoming a witness and reference to contemporary women’s lives.
The Origins
From tempera on canvas to pixel art
The Madonna and Child with St. Anne, commonly known as Sant’Anna Metterza, is the artwork that the CryptoMADONNE project has identified as its starting point.
