Looking at Seurat

Looking at Seurat is an oil on canvas from the Misplaced series, that is, those works in which Angelo Accardi enjoys displacing the viewer by distorting the order of things. In the luxurious bourgeois living room of a collector's house full of important and very expensive works, two ostriches in the company of Scooby-Doo admire the precious paintings hanging on the walls. Among all, Seurat's masterpiece Une baignade à Asnières stands out, one of the first examples of pointillism. From the door of the connecting rooms, which could also seem like the rooms of a museum, you can see a statue by Canova and a cutting by Fontana. The ostriches, and Scooby, completely replace the human presence, taking on their posture and positioning in space. A learned conversation seems to be taking place between the two ostriches while Scooby, who in the cartoon is instead humanized and equipped with speech, has taken on a purely animal connotation and, like any family pet, seeks the attention of the two ostriches. The situation is surreal and what comes from it is a sense of imminent danger, a threat to mankind. The work, a unique piece, is the result of a long and complex process. First, the artist creates a sketch by modifying photographs with Photoshop where he adds animals and breaking elements. Then he reproduces it on canvas, by hand. Looking at Seurat is a work full of details and nuances that only reveals itself to those who know how to look at it. Accardi assumes that the viewer has knowledge of the history of art, design and architecture. The more details are known and recognised, the more the painting reveals itself and manifests itself like an oracle. It goes without saying that, among the artist's various intentions, there is also that of bringing those who look closer to the history of art which, with the trick of decorating the walls of its interiors, is cited, revived and revived.