After several months of traveling and creating murals, ROA opened a new solo with Dorothy Circus Gallery on October 31st, introducing some fresh indoor works. Titled Suovetaurilia, the show is dedicated to Rome and its audience, as it refers to the ancient ritual animal sacrifice of a pig (sus), a sheep (ovis) and a bull (tauris) common at one time in the area.
With this exhibition, the prolific Belgian artist is connecting the Rome in the distant past, where thousands of exotic animals were killed for people’s entertainment, with the contemporary practice of exotic animal trafficking. All the pieces were created on site with salvaged materials found around the city, and painted within the gallery space during his stay. As per his usual practice, the paintings are anatomically accurate, and invite observers to communicate and interact with them as they often have more than one image. The large works of baby rhino, ram, giraffe and baby elephant definitely dominate the gallery space, followed by other smaller works on found objects and finally, some smaller works on paper. The raw dissection of animals is meant to trigger the feeling of compassion for these creatures that are often seen as amusement instead of as living beings.
Part of the proceeds from ROA’s exhibition that will stay on view until December 24th, will be donated to animal rights associations and will support the project Cavalcando l’Autismo, helping children with autism.
Photo credit: Andrea Concina.
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