Morandi - paintings
Morandi - video - Painting a pig head in front of Giorgio Morandi
Morandi - video - Triste, triste, triste - the paint seller of Girogio Morandi
PAINTING A PIG HEAD IN FRONT OF A GIORGIO MORANDI AND OTHER PIG HEAD STORIES
SEE:
PAINTING A PIG HEAD IN FRONT OF A GIORGIO MORANDI - VIDEO / PAINTING-PERFORMANCE, BOLOGNA 2012, 19 min
PAINTING A PIG HEAD IN FRONT OF A GIORGIO MORANDI - PAINTINGS
Morandi - video - Triste, triste, triste - The paint dealer of Girogio Morandi video. 28 min, 2012
STILL LIFE / CRUNCH LIFE, GIORGIO MORANDI, NATURA MORTA, 1955 / PIG HEAD - - oil painting, pig head
NATURA MORTA / ECONOMIA MORTA , GIORGIO MORANDI , NAUTRA MORTA, 1955 / TESTA DI MAIALE
.painting,wooden base, alluminum foil, photoraph, and pig head, 2012
(a pig head may be present but doesn't have to be present for obvious reasons, the base with the alluminum foil has to be present)
see original Morandi Painting:
also from an interview between Johan Hartle and me entitled the abstract faces of the rulling class
Johan Hartle: The pig’s head, of course, alludes to classics of political iconography. George Grosz’ Faces of the Ruling Class –
one could even think of Orwell’s Animal Farm – all these traditions of political caricature come back in the pig’s head,
which has normally been used as an open assault: But why a pig and who is the pig?
Rainer Ganahl: A very good question! Who is the pig? I guess every participant whether they profited or lost in the game can
be blamed for the current mess. Creditors and debtors alike, as well as all the people who set up and controlled
the regulatory context which failed the system. This is not to diminish the culpability of architects of SUBPRIME
MORTGAGES, that were resold as investments with TRIPLE A RATINGS worldwide for eccentric profits; of the
legislators who eliminated the Glass-Steagall Act, that separated investment banking from commercial and retail
banking respecting conflicts of interests thus driving up MORTGAGE BACKED SECURITIES and COLLATERALIZED
DEBT OBLIGATIONS (CDOs) – essential factors in bringing down the system in 2007/2008; or of the creative
accounting that manipulated financial profiles in the USA and in Europe. PORTUGAL, ITALY, (IRELAND), GREECE and
SPAIN – referred to as PIGS – all have special stories to tell when it comes to balance sheet manipulations, tax evasion,
corruption and irresponsible economic politics. Needless to say, in the USA a decade of reckless waste of resources
on two disastrous unnecessary wars in combinations with reducing taxation to unsustainably low record levels also not
only weakens the nation and its capacity to rescue its economy but also increases political unpredictability, paralysis
and bad decision making aggravating the socio-economic and financial situation.
Being myself a big fan of George Grosz, I must admit that in most cases the “faces of the ruling class” bear features
of the Sus family. A decapitated sample of such a creature also works the senses of the visitor rather very quickly
and poses a health risk within a short period of time – hence a perfect prop for this still life inspired assembly of food
sculptures. For this particular setting in New York, the pig had the pleasure of vicinity to some of the biggest financial
institutions operating in the USA as well as three large companies that just went into BANKRUPTCY proceeding
around the time the event took place: SOLYNDRA – a solar panel company that received a 500 million dollar state
loan guarantee just months before it declared BANKRUPTCY, defrauding the government giving one more example
how profits are kept private and losses get socialized – FM GLOBAL, an investment company where 1.2 billion
dollars evaporated just a day before my exhibition and DEXIA, a Belgian bank that needed a massive bailout (to
prevent BANKRUPTCY) by not only Belgium but even France – a good example of a TOO BIG TO FAIL firm, an
inherent candidate to fit the piggy-label. These three large carrots were placed in front of the nose of my badly
shaved pig that showed obvious signs of a violent interruption of its life cycle.