FROM
Palermo, Italy
Salvatore Benintende, known as TVBOY, is an important Italian street artist born in Palermo in 1980. His artistic journey began in 1996 under the nickname “Crasto”, but his turning point came in 2002 at an exhibition of the design school of Milan, where he presented the character of “TVBOY” for the first time, painting the faces of friends and celebrities on old televisions. The diffusion of his works throughout Italy and internationally took place between 2003 and 2004, establishing collaborations with other street artists. Today he is widely recognized as an icon of Pop Art and Street Art, often nicknamed the “Italian Bansky” for his impactful art.
Totò and Alfredo
The embrace of the old man and the child, of the unforgettable Philippe Noiret and Totò Cascio, who seem to come towards us, talk to us about their relationship, is moving. Therefore the writing we read, one of the most beautiful sentences in the screenplay, is the one addressed by the old operator to his enchanted apprentice: “Whatever you do, love it, as you loved the cabin of Paradise when you were little”. The artist declares that the film and the entire cast of “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso” moved him and inspired him to dream, but above all they allowed him to find his path in art. The creation of the mural at Palazzo Adriano therefore aims to be a tribute fixed in an instant, in a single frame which depicts the old man and the child disciple, locked in an indissoluble embrace, no one will separate them, ever again. Because the love for that art that enchants every man binds them forever.
Ennio Morricone
The work is dedicated to the author of the soundtrack of “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso”. At street level, Ennio Morricone, the greatest Italian musician of the second half of the twentieth century, looks at us. Severe as always. But it’s not limited to this. The artist depicts the master who imposes silence with a gesture that does not allow a reply: the index finger on the lips. The creator of the most beautiful harmonies in Italian cinema invites us not to speak. Because words mean nothing, words confuse, words sometimes lie. Music also lives on silence, from silence those harmonies are evoked that tell what flows in our soul. Therefore the master invites us from that wall to no longer disturb the silence that every work of art imposes, we all need to give space to deeper reflection every now and then.