A balaclava over the face of Leonardo’s Musician. Adhesive tape in place of the paintbrush. No Curves is an artist who works with humble materials and uncomfortable questions — and until 16 June 2026 he brings all of this to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, with the solo exhibition EGO – From Adhesive Tape to the Great Masterpieces, curated by Antonello Grimaldi.

Adhesive tape, in No Curves’ practice, is neither a shortcut nor cheap provocation. It is a precise instrument, capable of building essential geometries that layer over classical iconography without destroying it — reinventing it instead. Renaissance figures remain recognisable, but something cuts through and displaces them: a colour, an object belonging to contemporary urban culture.

The balaclava operates similarly, but on a different level. Historically tied to anonymity — to the street, to protest, to disappearance — here its meaning is inverted. It does not conceal identity; it calls it into question. Who is hiding beneath the mask? The question applies equally to the portraits of the past and to anyone today who builds their own image on social media, layer by layer, until they no longer recognise themselves.

It is in this short-circuit between eras that the project intensifies: the Renaissance as a mirror of the present, and the present as a revealer of something the Renaissance had already sensed about the relationship between representation and power.