Tvboy, the street artist of the moment
Next to Banksy now there is also him, exponent of the Neo-Pop movement: his murals are increasingly famous
Next to Banksy, in the Olympus of street art, now there is also Tvboy, born Salvatore Benintende, an exponent of the Neo-Pop movement. He has just held an exhibition with a curious history at the Mudec museum in Milan, he has published his official book and with his works, he is increasingly in demand.
In a deserted city for parties, masked and spaced out, we allowed ourselves a beautiful and free exhibition, precisely that of Tvboy, the Italian street artist of the moment who puts provocations on the walls in the form of kisses and contemporary portraits.
In general, the area of Via Tortona, all around the Mudec - Museum of Cultures, goes beyond the Salone del Mobile and is a paradise of mural art. Then nearby there is also a place in Sorbillo, the historic Neapolitan pizzeria that is invading the world. It can take three hours like this to keep a flame burning in these two very hard years of the pandemic.
The free admission exhibition ended on January 9, 2022, with 70 canvases on the themes dear to the artist: love, power, heroes, art. There are the selfies of Frida and Van Gogh, the Last Supper at fast food, the influencer Chiara Ferragni portrayed as a Madonna with the child, the immigrant Santa Claus arrested by the police, the tributes to Gino Strada and Diego Armando Maradona, the satirical kisses between politicians. One of my favorite works tightens the heart; it is the child who writes his letter to Santa Claus: the text is actually a request for political asylum sent by the wall on the border between Poland and Belarus.
Among other things, the name Tvboy and the author’s logo refer to a character with his head encapsulated in the television, representing his entire generation, that of the seventies and eighties.
The exhibition was born by chance: when Mudec hosted “A Visual Protest. The Art of Banksy ”in 2018, Tvboy created a mural at night on the perimeter of the museum to protest against the unofficial initiative, portraying a hooded street artist portrayed from behind, still visible.
From that initial contrast, a nice dialogue arose which in the end triggered the collaboration between the structure and the artist of Sicilian origins, until the Municipality of Milan and the Mudec invited TVBOY to replicate the work during a public performance in the Museum creating a series of works subsequently sold, the proceeds of which financed the project “A wall that unites”.