Slasky - The Romanov Twins

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The Romanov Twins
Artist: Slasky (based on Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun)
Title of the original work: Portrait of Grand Duchesses Alexandra and Elena Pavlovna (1796)
Intervention: Digital neon installation

Description and Critique
In this provocative neo-pop work, the Italian artist Slasky performs a semantic short-circuit between the aristocratic elegance of the late 18th century and the perturbing aesthetics of the auteur horror cinema. The original portrait by Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, celebrating the grace and fraternal complicity of the Zarina’s daughters, is here reread through the addition of a red neon inscription that frames the figures.

The chosen text, “Come and play with us, forever... and ever... and ever,” is the famous quotation from the Grady twins in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining. This insert radically transforms the perception of the subjects:
Chromatic and Formal Contrast: The vivid red of the neon breaks the soft pastel palette typical of Le Brun’s Neoclassicism, projecting a sinister and contemporary light onto the grand duchesses’ faces.

Narrative Dissonance:
The innocence of the original subjects is replaced by a sense of unease. Grand Duchesses Alexandra and Elena Pavlovna lose their historical identity to become icons of a collective horror imaginary, playing on the theme of the “double” and eternal (and spectral) childhood.

Stylistic Anachronism:
Slasky fuses “court painting” with mass pop culture, creating a work that interrogates the viewer about the persistence of classical art in the digital era and its capacity to absorb new meanings, even the darkest ones.

The work stands as a masterful example of Urban Classicism, where the past is not merely cited but “ignited” by new and unsettling media vibrations.

UNFRAMED

Slasky is an Italian digital artist; his works have been exhibited worldwide, including at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and published in fashion, tattoo, and art magazines. He is known for his 360° digital technique, which he uses to create immersive and surreal images. His works explore themes such as nature, identity, and perception; he is an innovative and visionary artist helping to define the future of digital art.

A dialogue between 17th-century Flemish painting and contemporary visual language, questioning power, authorship, and permanence.

Slasky is an Italian digital artist; his works have been exhibited worldwide, including at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and published in fashion, tattoo, and art magazines. He is known for his 360° digital technique, which he uses to create immersive and surreal images. His works explore themes such as nature, identity, and perception; he is an innovative and visionary artist helping to define the future of digital art.

Slasky (b. 1972, Italy) is a self-taught artist working from Artena, Rome. His practice emerged from outside the institutional art system — a background in manual labour that informs both the materiality of his work and the precision of its conceptual framework. Active since 2015, he has built an independent market presence across Europe and Asia before undertaking a decisive shift toward institutional research practice.

Selected Exhibitions (2015 — 2026)

Institutional highlight: Long Live Rembrandt, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2026. Work selected by the museum jury from thousands of international submissions for exhibition within the museum's permanent collection spaces. 15 July — 15 September 2019.

2026

* CI-AO
30 April - 28 May 2026
Via Del Vantaggio 28, Rome
Piazza del Popolo

* FACE2FACE
Laundry Studios · 5 – 9 March 2026

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2025

* Tokyo Open Art | Art on Loop Exhibition
Tokyo · 12 – 16 September 2025
* Art Parallax
London · 15 – 16 February 2025

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2024

* Waterloo — Solo Exhibition
Limassol · 10 – 20 December 2024
* ARTLAB 2024
Munich · 13 – 22 June 2024
* Must Be — Solo Exhibition
Anemi, Limassol · 3 – 10 February 2024
* Contemporary Venice 2024 — 13th Edition — Solo Exhibition
Venice · 12 – 15 January 2024

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2023

* Time Is An Illusion / Le temps est une illusion
Kramfors · 2 – 23 October 2023

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2022

* (UN)FAIR — (UN)DISCOVERED ART
Superstudio Maxi, Milan · 8 – 10 April 2022

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2021

* MIA Fair 2021
Superstudio Maxi, Milan · 7 – 10 October 2021
* Lausanne Art Fair
Lausanne · 30 September – 3 October 2021
* Lille Art Up!
Lille Grand Palais · 24 – 27 June 2021
* Works on Paper
Antibes · 18 March – 21 April 2021

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2020

* StreetArt // UrbanArt
Tozzo Atelier · 8 – 30 October 2020
* Work on Paper
Stockholm · 18 March – 21 April 2020

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2019

* Long Live Rembrandt ★ — Jury Selection
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam · 15 July – 15 September 2019
* Wopart Art Fair
Lugano · 19 – 22 September 2019
* Andy Warhol Exhibition — Group Show
· 14 April – 23 September 2019

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2018

* Neo Urban Classic — Solo Exhibition
MGallery by Sofitel, Kaluga · 16 March 2018
* Anti Donald Trump
Creative Debuts, London · 12 – 18 July 2018

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2016

* Arte Firenze — Sandro Botticelli International Contemporary Art Prize
Florence · 18 – 20 November 2016
* Twitter Art Exhibition
Trygve Lie Gallery · 31 March – 21 April 2016

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2015

* HUMAN RIGHTS? — La Casa della Pace
Fondazione Opera Campana dei Caduti, Rovereto · 31 May – 30 August 2015