Senza titolo 2

Within the Butchers series, Untitled 2 stages the neutralisation of violence when the labour of meat is absorbed into the domestic order of ornament. Zampogna does not represent slaughter at its bloodiest moment, but observes its transformation into an ordinary gesture, already available for viewing and consumption. The figure carrying the animal body belongs to a concrete activity, yet the floral fabric removes every functional space from the scene: the workplace disappears and the action surfaces within a material associated with the home, upholstery and decoration. Familiarity does not erase the drama, but makes it less perceptible.

The carcass stretched across the shoulder merges, through its pale tones and intermittent contours, with the large flowers of the support, and this proximity gradually deprives it of bodily weight. What should impose the material fact of death risks being read as another variation within the textile pattern. Conversely, the solid red garment focuses attention on the figure, but does not fully restore an identity: it turns the person into an exposed silhouette, suspended between concrete action and an image already prepared for circulation. The face remains legible, while the body is interrupted and invaded by the floral weave. Mixed media thus preserves the friction between paint and fabric without resolving it into a unified scene.

The work clarifies a central concern of Butchers: animal and executor are not opposed in spectacular conflict, but coexist with a naturalness more disturbing than explicit violence. The earlier contamination between “real reality” and “media reality” here assumes a material form. The support does not merely receive the image, but renders it decorative and therefore consumable. The viewer is left with a scene in which death remains visible, while the codes of habit silently lower its intensity.