From Monkey Man to Saint Sebastian. Representations of Mario Schifano between literature, music and visual arts

Abstract

This article examines an heterogenous group of 1960’s-1980’s artistic works (paintings, films, poems, rock music, comics, and photography) that choose Mario Schifano as their subject matter. The artists here analysed have very different intellectual, cultural and biographical background: Ugo Mulas, Alain Jacquet, Frank O’Hara, Nanni Balestrini, Dacia Maraini, Renato Guttuso, Franco Angeli, Goffredo Parise, The Rolling Stones, Filippo Scòzzari, Tanino Liberatore, Stefano Tamburini, Andrea Pazienza. The great variety of the works here investigated prove the quick-making artistic myth that surrounded Schifano since his very beginning, as well as his influential international role in different fields. Ultimately, the vast interest in Schifano as a subject demonstrates his transcultural impact as an artist who has openly intersected different genres, precisely to question their distinct creative roles, within last century western canon.