Federico Solmi

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is pleased to announce the opening of our 2012 fall season with the premiere of Chinese Democracy and the Last Day on Earth, a new epic animated film by 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and social provocateur FEDERICO SOLMI. The film has been two years in the making and was commissioned and partially funded by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation of New York. The gallery-wide exhibition, which will also include related paintings.

Federico Solmi's acclaimed animated videos aim to lampoon and condemn a male dominated, hierarchal world--in particular, corrupt, arrogant and hypocritical dictators, politicians, business and religious leaders, and other egomaniacal mad men who are portrayed as the main perpetrators and cause behind the decline of the human race. Solmi’s recent videos have featured a selfish and greedy Wall Street executive, Douche Bag City (2010), presented in The Dissolve—2010 SITE Santa Fe Biennial, and a fictional online porn-addicted Pope, The Evil Empire (2007), which has been at the center of several high-profile censorship cases in Europe, the most recent in 2011. Other animated videos by Solmi include Rocco Never Dies, The Giant, and King Kong and the End of the World.

Presented in Gallery 1, Chinese Democracy and the Last Day on Earth is the next chapter in Federico Solmi's ongoing narrative of a post-secular, materialistic contemporary society thatexamines the self-destructive nature of mankind through satirical commentary on repressive behavior and authoritarian power structures, as well as misguided ethical and moral values. Through a dystopian metaphor, this swarming animation articulates a fictitious portrayal of an imaginary 21st century Chinese leader, idolized by his crowd of subjects, whose desire is total world domination. Driven by ruthless ambition and a blood-thirsty appetite, he has brought Earth under his control with an iron fist. With America as the only obstacle standing in his way to victory, our beloved Tyrant embarks on his final march toward immortal glory, culminating with an epic finale--a military invasion of Times Square and the annihilation of planet Earth.

Solmi has envisioned Chinese Democracy and the Last Day on Earth as the central component in a trilogy. On view in Gallery 2 will be the first part, or prelude, A Song of Tyranny, as well as related paintings. A Song of Tyranny centers on the protagonist in the phase of becoming a dictator while he is permeated with the values and models that will influence successive actions and decisions during his rise to power. As our impassioned protagonist reveals during an interview:

“Ever since I was a child I knew that one day I would conquer planet Earth. I was forced to attend catholic school abroad, and later, Yale. I was never satisfied with my frivolous and hypocritical middleclass upbringing... America is my inspiration. I am very grateful to this country. In fact, I gained my morals through celebrity culture, Wall Street greed, and political corruption. Reality TV taught me how to navigate through life and helped me understand how respected institutions are useless ideas of the past.”

Beyond the apparent Manichean character, Solmi's playful aesthetics integrate a series of visual metaphors to present viewers with a comedic-grotesque parabola on power and excess, while inviting a deeper consideration of inconspicuous Sinophobic sentiments spurred by China's capitalists successes as well as America's own interests and practices. This sarcastic and irreverent tone allows Solmi to target the epitome of human folly, greed, and lust for power, preventing a simple reproduction of the good-versus-evil dichotomy. Solmi's complex production technique combines traditional hand drawn animation with digital models, utilizing computer gaming engines to create this high-definition "blockbuster-style" video. The result is an absolutely unique hand-made texture within a real-time 3D framework, created in collaboration with Australian based 3D artist, Russell Lowe.

Chinese Democracy and the Last Day on Earth

September 8 - October 20, 2012

Press Release