After becoming the best-selling sculpture in my entire collection, Don LOL — Don Laugh Out Loud returns in a new form.

An ironic and contemporary reinterpretation of a legendary cinema icon, transformed through my artistic language into a unique, recognizable, and unconventional character.

To celebrate the success of the original sculpture, a special limited-edition vinyl toy version will soon be unveiled, produced in only 300 numbered pieces.

A new chapter for one of my most beloved works.
Coming soon.

“Cartoon Vibes” is the new installation by artist Luca Valentini, presented by the Daniele Comelli Art Gallery, under the artistic direction of Alberto Bartalini and with the patronage of the Municipality of Forte dei Marmi, as part of the celebrations marking the tenth anniversary of the historic beach club owned by the Bocelli family. The sculptures, inspired by cartoon characters, come to life and step into our world. Legendary figures such as Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Felix the Cat, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse are no longer just icons of childhood, but are transformed into symbols of success, elegance, and personal achievement.

The renowned beach club Alpemare thus becomes a meeting point between two universes: the animated and the human. Here, the protagonists of our collective imagination celebrate their accomplishments, fully embracing the pleasures of time, relaxation, and well-being. The cartoon characters wear sophisticated outfits and showcase prestigious brands. Their stay at the exclusive Alpemare becomes a metaphor for a premium lifestyle, shared seamlessly between reality and imagination.

This spirit is fully reflected in the artist’s distinctive hallmark: the tongue sticking out, an iconic element of his sculptures, becomes a symbol of freedom, irony, and lightness. A gesture that conveys the joy of those who, after achieving their goals, finally choose to enjoy life with a smile and a strong sense of character.

The project originates from an immediately recognizable format: that of a magazine cover. Yet what appears familiar is removed from its original function. The photograph, the model, the headlines and the editorial content disappear; what remains is the logotype, isolated, transformed into a physical presence and immersed in an unstable chromatic field. The gradient is not decorative, but an open pictorial space: a shifting, undefined light that recalls sfumato, colour fields, and painting’s inability to define completely.

It is within this tension between symbol and painting that the critical core of the work emerges. The logo, produced with mechanical precision and uniform thickness, preserves the industrial coldness of mass desire; the background, by contrast, breathes, changes and absorbs. On one side stands the absolute nature of the brand; on the other, the indefiniteness of light. Resin makes this contradiction material: it reflects the viewer, incorporates the surrounding space, and turns the work into an open system. The viewer does not remain outside the image, but enters it physically. Every magazine is a dream that a culture has constructed for someone: before the work, that someone becomes the viewer. The project engages with Debord, Baudrillard, Barthes, Merleau-Ponty and Benjamin: the magazine as spectacle, simulacrum, cultural myth and device of reproduction. Here, however, the serial symbol is returned to matter, light, shadow and the uniqueness of perceptual experience. The spectacle is shown after its end; the myth is dismantled not by being destroyed, but by being suspended within a silent painting. As print media decline, these works operate as contemporary vanitas: they capture desire at the moment when its historical medium begins to wither.

When the face, the article, and the desire disappear, only the logo remains. A pure, empty, and immaculate symbol: the spectacle no longer in need of the spectacle itself.

August the 4th 2022

Solo show at Kapopoulos Fine art, Mykonos.

Luca Valentini for Canvas Cosmetic.

November 15th 2021

Solo show at “Sconci art Gallery” in Dubai