The Antihero

Federico Chiesa explores the inevitability of old age by giving an unexpected spin to the lives of infamous villains.

- Federico Chiesa

Growing up in the 80's, in a small village in Tuscany, Hollywood films always fuelled my dreams. I would imagine what became of the antiheroes past the timeline that the movie offered. Would they still be the all-powerful figures that we have loathed and loved in equal measures? Would they regret the choices they made?

My Perspective

Around the time of the Italian economic meltdown in 2011, I was commissioned to create a series around the theme of crisis. However, it was the idea of an identity crisis that appealed to me more. With a certain degree of irony, I began to imagine how a once feared villain would function after facing life’s ultimate enemies—age, decay and death. This was how the initial seed of the idea behind Horror Vacui was sown in my mind’s eye.