The artist Andrea Saltini, author of the works exhibited in the church of Sant’Ignazio di Carpi, in the province of Modena, was stabbed in the neck by an unknown person. Saltini was inside the church for the “Gratia plena” exhibition when he had a fight with a man wearing a mask who wanted to damage one of the works with a knife, also dirtying it with a spray can. Saltini attempted to block the man, who in turn stabbed him in the neck. The artist was injured but was not in serious condition, according to the first information that emerged after arriving at the hospital. Meanwhile, the stranger ran away.
Saltini’s exhibition in Carpi has been under attack for days because it is considered blasphemous. Complaints also started from the traditionalist Catholic site «La nuova comsola daily», especially for the painting by Saltini in which a man is portrayed bending over the private parts of Jesus, as recalled by La Gazzetta di Modena. The work is entitled «INRI – San Longino» and depicts a naked reclining Christ with holes in his hands and feet and the writing «Inri». The Diocese rejected the accusations, inviting people to look at the exhibition as a whole: «As for the judgements, or prejudices according to which some paintings on display reproduce blasphemous or irreverent images, even though they fall within the free circulation of opinions, as well as being disrespectful towards the exhibition carried out above all by the artist and also by the promoters, none of this is detectable when looking at the works correctly, documented and with a clear eye”.
