Air Force 2

A playful take on the ‘air ‘of fluttering butterflies to the ‘air’ of the Italian Air Force, this artwork celebrates the iconic Italian Air Force logo with bespoke butterfly types created to replicate the familiar roundel – incidentally more commonly used with colours reversed, with the outer circle in red. The impactful and simple symbol recreated in three-dimensional form provides the viewer with a discovery of form and texture and detail that draws the eye right onto the surface of each butterfly.

A celebration of the Italian Air Force – Aeronautica Militare roundels were used on all aircraft as a circular identification mark, painted on all aircrafts to identify them to other aircraft and ground forces, a graphic simplification of the Tricolori flag.

Also adopted by The Mod subculture in Britain in the 1960’s – taking a symbol of authority and traditionalism and repurposing it to express their own sense of style and identity. The Italian Mods from the 1980s were renowned for their impeccable sense of style too plus not forgetting to mention Italy being the origin of their beloved Vespa and Lambretta scooters which they proudly owned and rode.

Over 800 individually made butterflies were used in this piece to achieve the abundancy and density for a thick pop of colour. Each of the front and reverse sides of the red wing patterns have been embellished to feature hidden ghostly faces and skulls, injecting a darker more sinister aspect to the ethereal beauty of butterflies – in turn referencing the fleeting lifespan of butterflies between birth and death.