Carpi, attacked artist Andrea Saltini at his exhibition: injured, not serious

Assault this morning in Carpi (Modena) against artist Andrea Saltini during opening hours of his Gratia Plena exhibition in the church of St. Ignatius, part of the diocesan complex in the Emilian city. A man, with a covered face, entered the church armed with a knife and cut and daubed a work with black spray. After that, Saltini tried to block the attacker: a scuffle ensued in the course of which the artist was injured. The attacker then managed to flee and is currently wanted by the police.

Saltini’s exhibition, which opened last March 2 and runs until June 2, had caused great controversy after its opening: it was in fact accused of blasphemy. The exhibition features a number of gospel-themed paintings reinterpreted in a contemporary key. Among the paintings-symbols of the exhibition is Paraclete, a Pieta in which the figure of the Madonna is replaced by that of a kind of astronaut (a reference to the Covid period, with the hope of an improbable salvation that would have come from space), the eponymous triptych of the exhibition, and above all the INRI painting in which St. Longinus approaches the lifeless body of Christ by covering his genitals. This is the image that sparked the controversy, to which Saltini had, however, already responded in an interview with Resto del Carlino: “I simply wanted to ’cover’ the nudity of a man, as had been done in the past with the bodies in the Sistine Chapel. There is no malicious intent: the artistic concept would like the canvas placed vertically, and in fact in the catalog I had it photographed as lying on the ground. There is nothing scabrous about St. Longinus touching the side of Christ coming down from the Cross, probably helping him.”

The Diocese of Carpi itself had rejected the accusations, calling the comments “disrespectful and undetectable in front of a proper viewing of the works. As for the judgments, or prejudices, according to which some paintings on display reproduce blasphemous or desecrating images, while falling within the free circulation of opinions, in addition to being disrespectful towards the path taken by the artist and also the promoters, none of this is detectable in front of a correct, documented and clear-eyed vision of the works.”

Saltini, who was wounded in the neck, was taken to the emergency room but fortunately his condition is not serious. The Diocese of Carpi issued a note expressing "closeness and full solidarity to Mr. Andrea Saltini for the unprecedented act of violence of which he was the victim, wishing him a speedy recovery, and to all the collaborators involved in the presentation of the exhibition Gratia plena. The Diocese of Carpi thanks the Police Forces for their timely intervention and pledges its full cooperation in the conduct of the investigation aimed at finding the author of the insane act."

Carpi, attacked artist Andrea Saltini at his exhibition: injured, not serious

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