L A R A   N I C K E L

La Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth) is an ancient Roman, disc-shaped sculpture most likely representing the face of Oceanus (*exact meaning and function of the sculpture is unknown). During the Middle Ages, the freshly unearthed marble face was randomly placed on top of a Corinthian column fragment and given a completely made-up myth discouraging lying through mysterious threats of ancient violence. Medieval legend stated: 

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If you put your hand inside the mouth of the sculpture and tell a lie,

the sculpture will bite your hand off. 

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To this day, tourists wait in line to pose for photos with their hand inside the sculpture’s mouth, buy souvenirs representing the sculpture’s message of honesty, and even have their fortunes read by coin slot machines fashioned after La Bocca della Verità’s face.

 

This painting-installation is of a life-sized, realistically-rendered painting of La Bocca della Verità’s face and of the corinthian column it sits upon. The mouth of the painting has been slit open with a blade (like a Lucio Fontana painting) and visitors are invited to place their fingers inside the mouth of the painting. Over time, through the act of touching the canvas, the painting will become dirty/worn/damaged/altered — just like the actual La Bocca della Verità sculpture after hundreds of years of being touched.

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Both the sculpture and the painting piece acknowledge: the misunderstanding of ancient cultures and objects; the dual nature of misconception as both deceptive and charming; the power of myth making — how meaning is assigned and can be reconstructed over and over again throughout the course of history; how an object or image acts as a vessel which carries mysticism while also being itself innately miraculous; the rare phenomenon within art and tourism where visitors are allowed to physically interact with historical and art objects; the even rarer acceptance and encouragement of the alteration of art objects through physical touch; how physical touch acts as communion with and simultaneous creator of the metaphysical.