Family Portrait: Dave and Tony and the Irony of Our Time
Where the Mask of Pop Culture Reveals the Meaning of Belonging.
At Numa Sala, we continue to challenge the boundary between art and the spectator. With the exhibition “Family Portrait. 2025.” by artists Dave and Tony, dialogue is not just encouraged; it is forced, with an ironic smile.
Dave and Tony are masters in the appropriation and subversion of pop icons and kitsch aesthetics. In this exhibition, they dismantle the idealized concept of a “family portrait,” using a visual language that is simultaneously vibrant, familiar, and deeply unsettling.
Anatomy of a Dissident Portrait
The images filling the walls and the gallery space are not the classic nuclear family. They are an aggregation of masked figures, macabre cartoon characters, and plush animals transformed into ironic trophy rugs.
The Aesthetic of the Mask: The hyper-saturated photographs (such as The Common or Matinee) feature human figures wearing latex masks, exaggerated makeup, or creature costumes. This creates a psychological distance. These are not portraits of identity, but of roles. Who are we when we wear our “family” or social “persona”?
Kitsch Subverted: The giant plush rat stretched out on the floor (Rug Rat) is the centerpiece of the irony. It harks back to trophy hunting rugs, but the rat, the urban “villain,” is transformed into a figure that is at once adorable and sinister. Death and affection dance side by side.
The Installation Space: The inclusion of sculptural objects in the space—from pipes dripping a viscous liquid (disturbing readymade art) to small graves with simple crosses (Dave and Tony)—breaks the two-dimensionality of the photographs. The space becomes a stage for a fragmented narrative.
The Implicit Dialogue: Is Family a Disguise?
The true beauty and depth of Dave and Tony’s work lie in their ability to use humour and absurdity to ask us serious questions:
Dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia.
Belonging and Strangeness:
By depicting figures that seem to belong to a shared universe yet maintain their bizarre individuality, the exhibition questions: What unites us as a “family” or a “society”? Is it the attire, the mask, or the shared experience?
The Fragility of the Icon:
Alongside portraits of poodles and glam cats, we find symbols of death (Rat & Glue) and small funerary monuments. Dave and Tony remind us that the perfect façade, whether that of pop culture or family, is always transient and fragile.
“Family Portrait. 2025.” is a must-see experience. It is Numa Sala welcoming a conversation about the most pulp, ironic, and surprisingly tender side of contemporary belonging.
We invite you to visit us and find your place in this new, irreverent family portrait.