Sebastian’s, two-person show by Corrado Levi and Manuel Scrima at San Sebastiano Contemporary, Palazzolo Acreide

Saint Sebastian the subversive soldier. Saint Sebastian the faithful martyr. San Sebastiano, icon of the Church, but at the same time a gay icon. San Sebastiano protector of archers and the suffering. Not only that: in its umpteenth value, very current, San Sebastian is invoked against plagues and epidemics in general.

However, it is above all in the depiction of his young body shaped by military discipline that San Sebastian is one of the most represented Christian figures in the history of art: from Antonello da Messina to Andrea Mantegna, from Perugino to Guido Reni, there are countless modern artists, but also contemporaries – one for all Damien Hirst – who celebrate this controversial and evocative figure, essential to its earthly essence. The contemporary tradition continues with the two artists on display at San Sebastiano Contemporary, namely Corrado Levi and Manuel Scrima, who present a selection of works with a strong aesthetic and conceptual taste, as is typical of their research.

In the past Levi has created an entire cycle of works dedicated to San Sebastiano, works with a marked semiological value that refer to the suffering of the saint. In this exhibition it is possible to appreciate some of those works, that is drawings imbued with the power of suggestion through graphic elements that evoke the martyrdom of the body and the mysterious strength of faith.

Scrima, on the other hand, uses the photographic medium and treasures the capillary analysis of the body, pursued in the shots taken in the world of fashion in which he has been working for some time. The achieved harmony, in the works present and conceived specifically for this exhibition, mix elements taken from classic and modern works, which are at the same time quotations from his masters and awareness of the contradictory human nature, which is undeniably and inseparably carnality and spirituality .

The exhibition will open on Tuesday 3 August at 19:00 and will be open until 10 September, from Friday to Sunday and other days by appointment.