David Gioca Nella Neve

Allora, our stateside David makes a wintry return to Photos with David. One brave "urban explorer" battled the feroce Buffalo weather in an effort to answer one of mankind's oldest mysteries. Si, that's right, this uomo set out to document the plague of the male species... cold atmosphere induced shrinkage. Fighting the freddo Gennaio temperatures, the esploratore captured a foto of the marble man standing over a bella blanket of neve fresca.

The results of the mission, si chiede? An excerpt from the explorer's detailed expedition journal states "Finally, David is in a place where he can blame it on the cold weather..." Alas, it seems not even a biblical hero created by the magnifico hands of a Renaissance genius is immune to the dreaded curse that is shrinkage. Feel free to click and zoom on the above image to see if you agree with our icy adventurer. Aspetta, maybe not at lavoro. It might be awkward if your capo walks by and catches you.

Allora, because no stone and sling will help our beloved David in this situation, we will use the words of another man struck down by shrinkage, Giorgio Costanza, to stick up for our fella "I think that you think that a certain something is not all that it could be, when in fact it is all that it should be, and more!"

Noi te amo ancora Davide, e that nice culo and favoloso sei pack make everything a-okay, va bene.

Ah, its a tit bit nipply up there in Bufalo, no?

Modern Day Warrior, err Recycler?

Occasionally, we at Fotos con David like to scour the mondo wide web to seek out unique and buffo takes on the marble masterpiece. And while most of the images we stumble across are the result of some trickster with a talent for photoshop (fat david anyone?), every once in awhile we find a real tresoro.

Behold the work of famous (and mysterious) British artist Banksy.

His quite modern/political take on the marble uomo was featured in his blockbuster homecoming exhibition held at the Bristol City Museum in the estate of '09.

Banksy's David looks a little bit more prepared to take on Goliath, no?

Image courtesy of venturebeat.com

Aspetta, we know this isn't really Golia, però it was the primo result when we searched google images for a foto of everyone's favorite Philistine.

Executed in 2006, the sculpture was also on display in LA a few years back; in the show's catalog the artist described the piece by saying "We don't need any more heroes, we just need someone to take out the recycling."

This Rambo-esque David recently went on the auction block at Sotheby's in London and was purchased for a measly $325, ooo.
Hopefully that's enough denaro for Banksy to buy himself another super secretive hoodie.

image via sproots.net

To view more pictures from Banksy's show at the Bristol City Museum check out a slideshow here.

Grazie a Dio per il Carabinieri!

If you've have ever had the pleasure of traveling to the bella land of Italia, then you most likely have also had the pleasure of running into the Carabinieri.

The organization, a unit of the Italian military, is responsible for policing the civilian population of the Mediterraneo country, and it appears the only requirement for entry is to be a good looking Italian uomo. Besides the fabulous macchine and molto seski uniforms that make the Carabinieri the best, they also have an entire unit dedicated to tracking down stolen art. For art history buffs like us here at Photos with David, this dedication to cultural heritgae is admirable (which is probably why we have a slight obsession with il Carabinieri). We're also thankful the Carabinieri are not stationed inside the Accademia, otherwise our illicit foto snapping would have landed us in a Florentine jail long ago.

Have you seen the raggazze americane pazze who wreck havoc in Firenze?

In fact, the members of the Comando per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale (the Art Squad), take their jobs so seriously that even when they are not working, they are working!

While strolling the strade in Nuova York città on vacanza, officer Michele Speranza spotted a torso in the window of an art gallery that he recognized from the Carabinieri's stolen art database. A man after our own hearts, Speranza snapped some pics of the object on his mobile phone, and upon returning to Roma did research to confirm that the female torso was in fact the very same torso stolen from Terracina Archaeological Museum in 1988. Thanks to the great detective work of one dedicated Carabinieri the masterpiece is now safely back in Italy.

BRAVO MICHELE, BRAVO!!!!

Image from Artinfo.com (Courtesy AFP/Getty)

For more information on Speranza's heroics check out the full article here.
You can also check out the official website of the Carabinieri here, including the stolen art database Speranza used, and even download some really sweet Carabinieri desktop wallpapers here!
Allora, for those of you whose Italian language skills are a little rusty (myself included) here is the wikipedia entry for il Carabinieri en Inglese.

To conclude this entry, we'd like to leave you with an image that will serve as a warning to anyone who has plans on stealing art from Italy.

Image from Dailymail.co.uk

What you don't see is how quickly the man in the mask slapped that smile off of his face.
We kid, we kid. But seriously, don't steal art. VA BENE!

Venti Cinque & Better Than Ever

Photos with David would like to send our very own scarpe lovin', moon pittura takin' Michelle a Happy 25th Birthday. While she spends her days molding the minds of the youth of America as a fabulous professore, we all know she spends her nights scrapbooking and getting a little giglio with a bottle of vino rosso.

We recognize we are a few days late with the birthday wishes, but can you blame us, we're on Italian time.

Buon Compleanno Meesh, we love you!

Oh Madonna! Not Your Parent's David

All one has to do is google image search the words "Michelangelo's David" to see the plethora of molto buffo interpretations of the Renaissance sculpture. From the infamous "Fat David" to a clever play on the TMNT sharing a nome with the artista, comedic reinterpretations are as common as those knock off handbag sellers of questionable immigration status in Piazza della Repubblica.

Image courtesy of Worth1000.

While most of these images could be described as kitsch, I believe today the staff at Photos with David have uncovered the most interessante and unique re-imagining of the marble masterpiece...
May we present Mauro Perucchetti's "Michelangelo 2020."

Image courtesy of DayLife/Getty Images

Thats right amici, your gli occhi are working just fine, thats a bella signora!

A fiercely gifted artist, Perucchetti creates art that couples beautiful mediums with objects of popular culture to comment on political and social issues in today's society. With "Michelangelo 2020," the artist wanted to honor how women have fought years of oppression to become equal members of contemporary society.
Michelangelo's "David" was selected as inspiration for this piece both for his place as one of the most recognizable artistic masterpieces in the mondo, as well as his biblical representation of the ultimate cavallo scuro.

(See Cork,Richard. "Meeting Mauro Perucchetti. Mauro Perucchetti [Catalogue of an exhbition held at the Halcyon Gallery, 8 Oct - 16 Nov 2010]. London: Halycon Gallery, 2010.)


Image courtesy of Mirror.co.uk

To take a photo with this David, one must travel to Halcyon Gallery in London to look at Perucchetti's exhibition Modern Heroes on show until November 16th. To view more images of the donna David, as well as the rest of the fascinating works included in the show, check out the exhibition catalogue.

Can you tell due of the quattro ragazze at Photos with David were storia dell'arte majors at università?


ASPETTA! We aren't done yet:
To apologize for the art history heavy post we will leave you with this awesome Foto con David also found during our google image search oggi. While not a self-portrait pic, this image is just too good to not be featured on this site.

Image courtsey of The Guardian

Si può americano? Certamente americano.

Roma è una Merda!

Oh Madonna!

Cultural wars are badass. And this, this may be the most badass of them all. We all know Italy is relatively new at the whole unification thing, so it comes as no surprise that Florence is once again clashing with Rome, this time over the ownership of our beloved David.

One of the most popular attractions in the entire country, Florence is solely responsible for for the maintenance, upkeep, and security of the sculpture. Yet, all of the money that is made from the turisti, a reported $8 million, goes to the Italian State, and not to the città which has been David's casa since his 16th century creation. Firenze now wants the euros from the Galleria dell'Accademia In order to continue to preserve their stupefacente Renaissance heritage.

Now if you've ever been to dear Roma, you know it is no Florence, but still a bella città rich in cultural history, the origins of the western world can be found everywhere you turn. Aside from a few unpleasant smells and Romans in sweat pants (you will NEVER see a Florentine in sweat pants) Rome is non c'è male. Però, they take the term "ruin" to a whole new level - let us look to the Largo di Torre Argentina as a prime example. An ancient square comprised of quattro temples, this area is the location of Julius Caeser's assaination...yes that Julius Caeser, the one that founded the Roman EMPIRE. Anyway, oggi the Largo di Torre Argentina is home to a cat sanctuary; around 250 gatti eat, cazzo, and climb all over the place where the infamous Ides of March went down.

Shocking, Io so. Why would anyone want to hand over $8 million to a government which supports the use of such a significant area as a cat sanctuary - or gatti in general? What's next Rome, a zingari colony in the Colosseum?! No bene!

Firenze on the other hand, while slightly younger than Rome, has done a magnificent job of preserving their cultural history. While the vias and strades are now full of American studenti in ill fitting spandex instead of Renaissance geniuses, the architecture and atmosphere of the citta has barely changed. For the past cinqucento anni Firenze has served as a wonderful home for Michelangelo's David; the city could do wonderful things with the income from David. Things like investing the euros in hiring more security guards at the Galleria dell'Accademia to prevent people like us from taking prohibited fotos.

To express our opinions on this matter we refer you to the priceless stank face on OUR David and say to you Romans "Puttana, Per Favore"

For more information on this dispute check out the original, slightly less biased article here.

Le ragazze dietro, e davanti, foto con David

Fueled by a few euros, a little bit more vino rosso, and a whole lotta cases of the giglios, we present the four donne behind this magnifico blog. Andiamo!

Prima: MarissaKnown for her love of combat boots and all things gelato, Marissa is the rebel of the group. And by rebel, I mean the most likely to shun the well known museums of the city to explore Florence's obscure, yet magnificent Jewish ghetto, or start up a conversation with the African merchant selling light up cowboy hats outside of Moyo every notta. If you hang with Mariss, you will uncover the smallest ristorante with the best ribollita in all of Tuscany, or perhaps find yourself surreptitiously spending Euros on the best dolci in the world at a secret bakery at 3 in the morning. Her love of all things culinary, and her septum piercing, caught the eye and cuore of one jolly ragazzo whose salsa arrabiata is rivaled only by his spicy good looks.

Marissa is also the brains behind this blog; it was her moment of inspiration, while basking in a post Photo with David euphoria, that gave rise to our beloved site.

Fatto Interessante: Marissa is an expert Albanian hunter; no matter how perfetto the Italian accent, how spot on the Euro attire, or how persistent the uomo, Marissa can spot an Albanian masquerading as an Italian with one simple question "Di dove sei?" If the response is "Uhh Germany" or "in Piazzale Michelangelo"...RUN.

Secondo: MichelleThe ultimate tourista, Michelle can be found through out Firenze snapping photographs of just about everything. Seriously. From the magnificent Palazzo Vecchio to the Euro-fab hairstyles on unsuspecting Italians walking the strade, if its in Florence, Meesh will capture it for you. Just like she captured the heart of one bello underage Florentine with a barba sexy. With her money belt strapped securely on, and her purse full, this donna takes on the Mercato di San Lorenzo like no one else can. The proof is in her impressive collection of purple scarpe.

Michelle also happens to be the pioneer of the group, as she was the first ragazza to boldly snap multiple pictures of herself with David during our first stay in Florence tre anni fa.

Fatto Interessante: Michelle has been known to get lost for hours at a time in Florence, right under the noses of her amici, despite having an intimate knowledge of the city.

Terzo: CristinaCristina, our little Italiana, has spent the most time in our beautiful city, and boasts the most knowledge of the Italian language and culture. Exploring Firenze with this donna means shopping in the most fabulous stores in the city for the most fabulous bags, shoes, dresses, and pretty much anything else that is better in Italy. This saucy minx is also an aficionado on all things vino rosso; trust me, leave the wine choice up to Cristina, and you'll never leave a dinner unhappy (or sober). Cristina's love of the bustling nightlife in Florence led her into the arms of one extremely bello man, who has a big heart, and an even bigger affection for jeans with bulls on the culo.

Cristina serves as the translator of the gang, happy to negotiate the purchase of a scarpe from the mercato or to correct an amica's Italian while they are trying to hit on an underage Italian raggazo. She also is the one who most effectively eludes the pazzi guards in the Galleria Accademia with her killer Italian stare down, making many attempts at fotos con david possible.

Fatto Interessante: Cristina once successfully negotiated a crisis at the Aeroporto di Pisa, serving as a translator for a screaming Americana who failed to brush up on her English-Italian translations. It was a mistake to assume Pepperoni in the states meant the same thing in Italy. I mean c'mon lady, the word PEPPER is in Pepperoni.

Ultimo: Kerry
The member of the group with the least knowledge of the Italian language, but plenty of enthusiasm to speak it, Kerry travels around the city desperately trying to fit in by speaking in her native language of English with a perfetto Italian accent. With a fascination for zingari and Italian swear words, this ragazza can often be found gawking and groping at many treasured Renaissance statues which grace the vias and strade of Firenze; she also has been known to grope the satin shirt of a certain oh so seski Italiano with poor english but fabulous fashion sense.

Kerry doubles as the scribe of the group. Channeling the spirit of Giorgio Varsari, she documents the lives of her travel soulmates as well as their fascinating attempts to capture a plethora of fotos con David.

Fatto Interessante: Kerry successfully captured the beauty of one zingara in a priceless picture, just as the damn gypsy was chanting an evil incantation. She subsequently spent the rest of her stay in Florence warding off a gypsy curse by visiting as many Catholic churches as possible and praying for her condemned soul.


Allora, together noi quattro make up the fabulous ladies behind, and in front of, Photos with David.