L.O.V.E. is an acronym (of Liberty, Hate, Vendetta, Eternity) and the title of the sculptural work by Maurizio Cattelan in Piazza Affari in Milan. It is located in front of the stock exchange and is the most photographed object in the square, try it to believe in the “Places” section of Instagram.
A strong message against the world of finance, which 11 years later was borrowed by Ivan aka Ivan Tresoldi, to sensitize us to a topic about which too little is said: the condition of women aggravated by a historical period marked by the Pandemic.
How did he do it?
Equipped with water colors, a few days before International Women’s Day, he painted the nail of the iconic middle finger pink. A tribute to Non Una di Meno, a movement that unites everybody (and not just women) those who want to combat gender inequalities, but not only. Quoting the artist himself:
I want to send out two strong messages. I wanted to break a taboo, that is, to what extent can the work of another artist be touched? I violate the inviolable by linking my public art to a broad discourse on the condition of women. More than ninety percent of the people who lost their jobs during this health and financial crisis are women.
But the act of colorful protest does not want to attract the debate solely and exclusively on the economic aspect of the issue, but according to the author:
The pandemic, more than a year after its arrival, is still mostly told by men. Everywhere and always there is very little talk of women and their fundamental role in time and in society.
To conclude, it is necessary to recognize that artists make people talk, or rather reflect. Judging by Ivan‘s own statements, we can say with some certainty that this was his intent.
We may like it or not, it can make us turn up our noses at the idea that someone has “smeared” the statue or consider it revolutionary, but one point unites us all: the possibility that the artist allows us to reflect on topics that we should never ignore and perhaps on authorship of the works themselves.
