One of the most famous works by Italian contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of the Rags, has been burnt to cinders in a suspected arson attack in Naples.
The installation, in which a statue of the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility stands next to a vast pile of coloured, discarded clothes, was destroyed where it stood on display near the town hall in the southern Italian city.
The mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, said the fire in the early hours of Wednesday was “an act of great violence which leaves us speechless”, and promised the installation would be rebuilt.
Pistoletto told the Corriere della Sera daily newspaper that the reasons for the attack could be many.
“It is a work that calls for regeneration, on the necessity to find a balance and harmony between two minds that are represented on the one hand by beauty, and on the other by consummate consumerism, a disaster,” the 90-year-old artist said.
He added: “The world is going up in flames anyway. The same spirits that are waging war are the ones that set the Venus on fire.”
After examining neighbourhood surveillance camera footage, police arrested a 32-year-old homeless man on suspicion of arson and destruction of artistic works, according to Il Corriere della Sera.
There are several versions of Venus of the Rags, which Pistoletto first created in 1967, which juxtapose an iconic figure of classical culture and beauty with the detritus of contemporary society.
The first had a concrete or cement Venus – bought at a garden centre – covered with mica to create a glittery surface. Others used plaster casts of that statue, and one was made out of Greek marble containing mica, according to the Tate Gallery, which owns one of the pieces.
Pistoletto is a central figure in Italy’s Arte Povera (Poor Art) movement, and his works have been shown across the world, including in London, New York and Paris.
