Francesco Vezzoli's 'Sacrilegio' at Gagosian: Madonna as Consumer Product

Francesco Vezzoli's 2011 exhibition 'Sacrilegio' at Gagosian Gallery New York, designed by architect Annabelle Selldorf as a chapel, featured a video of his mother as the Virgin Mary. The show reimagined Renaissance Madonnas with lipstick and digitally inserted top-model faces, inviting viewers to pose as the Virgin. Vezzoli stated, 'I am relaunching Madonnas because maternity and parenthood seem to be the new Fendi bag.' The exhibition included embroidered canvases and a video with his mother lip-syncing to 'Dominique' by lesbian nun Soeur Sourire. Vezzoli's work references art history, from Salvador Dalí to Cindy Sherman, and critiques the commodification of motherhood. The show ran from February 5 to March 12, 2011.