Gabriele La Torre's 'I secondi soldati' at Edicola480 in Naples

At Edicola480, a street-facing window space in Naples, artist Gabriele La Torre (Palermo, 2003) presents 'I secondi soldati', an oil-on-canvas painting that examines how war is normalized through childhood toys. The work features toy soldiers on a flat orange background, with green and beige figures that blur the line between enemy and ally. Artistic director Massimiliano Bastardo curated the exhibition. The painting omits any identifiable battlefield, using a dense orange field to evoke a condition rather than a place. Perspective is deliberately inconsistent, with figures viewed from multiple angles, suggesting war resists a single authoritative reading. La Torre transforms mass-produced childhood objects, stripping them of innocence and reactivating their latent violence. The soldiers oscillate between play and ghost, their soft contours threatening to dissolve into the background. The exhibition runs until June 8, 2026, at EDICOLA480, Via San Pasquale, 61, Naples.