Unaesthetic Aesthetic

Italian artist Lucio “Basik” Bolognesi creates graphic work that references medieval and renaissance art, with a focus on gestures of the hand. Painted in a minimalist color palette, these gestures are given a sharpened focus, often suggesting cultural, religious, and symbolic meaning.

In Unaesthetic Aesthetic, Lucio positions five hands in motion over five frames. A golden line passes through the flesh, a tribute to depictions of St. Sebastian in Renaissance art in which arrows symbolize brushes on the martyred body of the canvas. The work also references how quickly today’s society perceives and consumes a life, or an artist’s work, as images that are framed on social media.