Banksy show to open in Rome May 24

(ANSA) - Rome, May 6 - A show by contemporary street artist Banksy titled 'War, Capitalism & Freedom' opens in Rome May 24.
    The exhibit features 150 paintings, sculptures, stencils, record covers and rare objects - some of them never displayed in public before - from private collections, and is on view at Palazzo Cipolla through September 4.
    Banksy - whose real identity remains a mystery - has made a name for himself by bringing attention to the world's most pressing issues, including the ongoing exodus of people fleeing wars in Syria and elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East.
    In December 2015 he visited the 'Jungle' Refugee Camp in Calais, France, one of the largest such camps in western Europe, leaving behind four new artworks including a mural featuring Steve Jobs carrying an early Macintosh computer and a sack over his shoulder and noting his background as the "son of a migrant from Syria". In another piece, he references Théodore Géricault's iconic 1819 painting 'The Raft of the Medusa' to depict an imperiled group on a sinking raft hailing a modern cruise ship on the horizon. In January this year, a new mural appeared outside the French embassy in London, criticising the alleged use of tear gas against refugees at the Calais camp.
    "In the history of Western art, no one else has managed to bring issues of this breadth to the attention of such a vast and heterogeneous public," said curator Stefano Antonelli.