Francesco Levi

How Tasty Men Are, 2015

Artwork Brief Description

Levi’s surreal sculpture depicts a giant fish with human figures inside its belly—one side showing them resting, the other revealing their skeletal remains. This duality evokes themes of consumption, mortality, and existential contemplation. Drawing inspiration from Bruegel’s *Big Fish Eat Little Fish*, the work critiques the natural cycle of power and exploitation. Levi’s raw, naïve artistic style transforms this unsettling allegory into a provocative yet humorous reflection on human existence.

How Tasty Men Are, 2015

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Francesco Levi (Italian b.1976) Come Sono Buono Gli Uomini (How Tasty Men Are), 2015

Lives and works in Gussago (BS). In 2002 he graduated in Industrial Design from Milan Polytechnic. Since 1997 he has exhibited painting and drawing works in various solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including: Compendio del tempo sospeso (Circuiti Dinamini, Milan 2021), L'educatrice alla pazienza (Pianod39, Florence 2019); Con.fondere - VI Biennale dei giovani artisti (Spazio SMS - San Michele degli Scalzi, Pisa 2011); Toda Italia en una ciudad (Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Madrid, Madrid 2008). In autumn 2021 he was a guest artist at the MOPC - Moscow Festival of Illustration and Drawing 2021. He is the author of theatre set designs (Teatro Telaio, Teatro 19), illustrator of books and magazines (‘effe - Periodico di Altre Narratività’, no. 8, 23 March 2018; ‘Watt. Without alternative. Volume 0.5', edited by Oblique Studio and IFIX, Futura Graf. 2012; Lorenzo Mazza, Giorni da Lupi, Altriventi 2021) and radio broadcasts (AMNESIA for Radio Rai 2).

Francesco Levi (Italian b.1976) Come Sono Buono Gli Uomini (How Tasty Men Are), 2015

Amongst the thick bamboo shoots an unusual form appears before our eyes. A monochrome fish with sharp angular fins, reminiscent of its dinosaur ancestors. From one aspect we see two men sleeping in the belly of the fish and from the reverse we see what is understood to be the remnants of their bones piled up. Levi establishes a sense of dichotomy between humour and fear.

The idea of depicting creatures within a creature is reminiscent of Bruegel the Elder’s “Big Fish Eat Little Fish” of 1556. In this famous work, we see a gigantic fish being cut apart, revealing a haul of many much smaller fish that seep out of his gaping wounds. In Big Fish Eat Little Fish, the portrayal of chaotic consumption serves as an allegory for systemic injustice, where the predatory behaviour of larger fish consuming their smaller counterparts symbolises the inherent and instinctual nature of exploitation. This imagery reflects broader societal dynamics, in which the wealthy exploit the impoverished and the powerful dominate the weak, underscoring a critique of the inherent inequalities that persist within human social structures.

In Levi’s work, the smaller fish are replaced with the bones of men and the allegory is reversed. We are still reminded of the ideas of excess consumption, but also of our own mortality and the fragility of life. The way in which the sleeping men have been depicted could be mistaken for the scaled patterns on the fish, imploring the viewer to question their initial readings or responses to the sculpture.

In Levi’s broader artistic practice he works in a rough, naive manner using stylised figures often accompanied by text. This sculpture is also somewhat naive in style and through his simple colour palette and use of cheap everyday materials, Levi transforms and elevates the everyday into art.

Working with text as well as image is central to Levi’s practice. In this sculpture the title, “How Tasty Men Are” is both playful and provocative.