Christian Caliandro critiques the 'likeability' pose in contemporary art

In an essay on Artribune, art historian Christian Caliandro argues that contemporary art and culture are dominated by a 'mettersi in posa' (striking a pose) attitude, which he terms 'likeability.' This involves a peremptory, assertive tone on social media that offers a single, unambiguous image of the self and the artwork, leaving no room for nuance, ambiguity, or depth. Caliandro links this to advertising communication, where the work becomes decorative, rhetorical, and ultimately reactionary. He cites David Foster Wallace on the insincerity of a smile that wants to sell something. Contrasting this, he describes the work of artists Elena Bellantoni and Serena Fineschi, who embrace ambiguity and transformation. Bellantoni's process involves cutting clay slabs and imprinting them with stones, leaves, and debris in the dry bed of the Pesa river near Montelupo Fiorentino. Fineschi's 'piedini' are overlooked objects that become artworks while remaining everyday items, existing in an in-between state. Caliandro recounts a dawn trip with Bellantoni, Benedetta Falteri (director of the Museo della Ceramica di Montelupo), and Aglaia Viviani (culture assessor of Montelupo) to find the exact point where the Pesa dries up—a shifting, indistinct boundary that he finds magical. He concludes that art resides in this dark, indefinable middle ground, far from the compulsion to put oneself on display.