Bologna Arte Fiera welcomes the return of figurative painting

I went to Bologna yesterday to see the big Art Fair there. There was a great mix of European galleries and their best artists. I'm happy about the strong return to painting, and figurative work seemed to be the direction for a lot of contemporaries. Now, figurative work, and the artistic nude does not offend me in the least, and I love contemporary work that comments on the human condition, but there was a disturbing tilt toward the fetishization of young girls and sexual brutality this year. In some cases it was clear that the work was a simulacra of societies perversions (which is fine by me), but in most work it wasn't so clear and so the pieces simply became another medium through which to perpetuate these ideologies. Artists need to be more conscious of work they produce and take responsibility for their images.
Apart from the above trend, the fair was wonderful. The direction art is going now is exciting.

Shown: my favourite piece by Guitamacci, and a painting by figurative artist Manuele Cerutti.