Alessandro Bazan Reimagines Caravaggio's Stolen Nativity in Palermo

In Palermo, the secular ritual of Next, promoted by the Amici dei Musei Siciliani, took place again on the night of December 24-25. For eight years, the association has commissioned a contemporary artist to create a work inspired by the Nativity for the Oratorio di San Lorenzo. The 16th-century oratory, known for Giacomo Serpotta's stuccoes, is infamous for the theft of Caravaggio's Nativity, painted in 1600 and stolen on the night of October 17-18, 1969. This year's artist is Alessandro Bazan (Palermo, 1966), who reinterprets the traditional Nativity iconography with his signature elements: music, bright colors, and pop atmospheres. Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra appear as special guests, perhaps the Magi, in this metropolitan nativity scene. Bazan also includes cameos of two great Sicilian artists: singer Giuni Russo and playwright Franco Scaldati. The focal point is a bed with an opulent Baby Jesus, set in a surreal environment blending a stable and a New York jazz club.