The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, will be hosting an exhibition, titled “The Leader is Present”, featuring Max Papeschi.One of the most renowned and appreciated Italian artists, Max Papeschi, in his first solo exhibition, is focusing on Kim Jong Un , the North Korean leader. Kim Jong Un is at the center of the scene in these art works as if in honor to him through art. The exhibition is part of the, Welcome to North Korea project, created with the support of Amnesty International Italy whereby promoting awareness and support for the crimes of the North Korean regime. In the absence of any censorship, the artist makes an effort to help us understand these issues incorporating playfulness in body of work. With Welcome to North Korea, Papeschi in his self fabricated role as Cultural Ambassador of North Korea as awarded by its Leader builds the story of a contemporary dictatorship, through a visual contradiction. The detention facilities become amusement parks and the public is taken to a parallel dimension, where the atrocities of Pyongyang’s regime are hidden by the grotesque propaganda.The exhibition is a combination of digital art, multimedia performances and installations in a fictitious and parodic regime propaganda that reveals the horrors perpetrated by the dictator Kim Jong-un. Papeschi , with his expressive and irreverent style, discredits the cult of personality, taking it to extremes with Kim Jong Un appearing between the cut of a Fontana painting or in a faceoff with Marina Abramovic. The propaganda of the regime is spoofed through the language of contemporary art divinizing the “Dear Leader” serving as commentary on the absurdity of the situation and atrocious news coming out of North Korea. Included in the exhibition are board games, Guess Who? – Kim of course; videos of South Park and Teletubbies with a North Korean twist and 80s video game, Kim Pong, inviting the viewers to play against Kim Jong with the inability to ever win against the Leader. Max Papeschi, whose career took off as an author and director for theatre, followed by TV and cinema, ventured into digital art later. As a figurative artist his approach was an immediate success among critics and public.The exhibition will be on view from September 15 to October 14, 2017, at the McLoughlin Gallery, 49 Geary Street, Suite 200 in San Francisco. For details, visit: www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/the-mcloughlin-gallery/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the artworks.
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