ANGELO ACCARDI - EDOUARD’S CRIME 2024 ED. 1/25

In Edouard’s Crime, Angelo Accardi engages directly with art history: at the center stands a clear reference to “Olympia”, reinterpreted in black and white and encased in a heavy golden frame. A small red flower placed on the reclining figure’s ear becomes the only color piercing through the monochrome classic. In front of the painting, a series of anachronistic and ironic characters appear.On the left, a bearded man in a top hat wears an elegant jacket paired unexpectedly with sporty trousers, creating a humorous clash between 19th-century formality and contemporary streetwear. At his feet, Felix the Cat in his traditional cartoon style acts as a silent pop narrator. On the right side, a seated figure dressed in fur-trimmed garments holds a long wooden staff, watching the scene like a stern guardian of this imaginary museum. Beside him stands one of Accardi’s signature surreal animals, a tall ostrich with a patterned, optical-style body in green and purple, a deliberate disruption of the scene’s balance. The geometric flooring and dark background frame the space between aristocratic salon and contemporary exhibition hall.Edouard’s Crime becomes a witty confrontation between canonical art, historical memory, and pop imagery, staged as a single, hybrid tableau where every element speaks on equal terms.