Il Leone al Cinematografo

The subject of the work donated to the Hospice by Grelo and the Galleria Bongiovanni is one of the artist’s favourites: animals as the main subject, sometimes alone, sometimes in groups, and now and then accompanied by human figures. Animals appear everywhere in Grelo’s works. They are enigmatic and impassive: they observe what is happening around them, watch what is happening in the distance, or gaze at the viewer from the canvas as we go about our daily lives. Tigers, monkeys, pumas, dogs, wolves, or – as in this case – lions. Solemn and stately, highly symbolic, often the animals represent the artist himself who dons this disguise in order to observe us better or to confuse the image portrayed, requiring the viewer to look further than the obvious, just like the lion in this piece. Last of all – the title: another of the artist’s characteristics is his ironic twist. The Lion at a movie show gazes at something unknown on the screen with great concentration. But as always with Grelo, it is up to the viewer to discover the hidden irony and identify its meaning.