CHEAP Collective's ICONS Project Covers Bologna with 54 David Bowie Posters

The female-run public art collective CHEAP has launched ICONS, a new project that plastered 54 posters across Bologna, Italy, throughout April 2023. The initiative critiques the contemporary obsession with celebrity death and mass mourning, particularly the unresolved grief for David Bowie. The first edition is dedicated entirely to Bowie, depicting him in his many personas—Starman, Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, and others—created by artists and illustrators from around the world. The project requires that the chosen icon be deceased and that the portraits be original. CHEAP describes the phenomenon as a mix of disturbing and seductive, worthy of translation through contemporary visual languages. ICONS includes an annual open call for artists, with the first deadline on July 7, 2023, under the theme "Agitatevi."