TVBoy
{{Short description|Italian street artist (born 1980)}}
{{For|the gaming console|TV Boy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = TVBoy
| image = Salvatore Benintende Art Kitchen Mash Up.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = TVBoy in front of some of his images in 2010
| birth_name = Salvatore Benintende
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1980|07|16}}
| birth_place = Palermo, Italy
| field = Street art
| training =
| movement = Neo-pop
| works =
| patrons =
| awards =
}}
Salvatore Benintende (born 16 July 1980), known by the pseudonym TVBoy (rendered with various capitalisations), is an Italian neo-pop street artist. He is known for his murals depicting footballers and current affairs, particularly George Floyd following his murder, Vladimir Putin following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Alexia Putellas following her first Ballon d'Or Féminin win. Having begun his street art work in 1996, he has been described as "the Banksy of Barcelona", one of the cities, along with Milan, he is known for decorating.{{cite web|title=TVBoy. Modern icons|url=https://www.timeout.com/barcelona/art/tvboy-modern-icons|access-date=4 February 2023|website=Time Out|archive-date=4 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204102921/https://www.timeout.com/barcelona/art/tvboy-modern-icons|url-status=live}}{{cite web|date=31 December 2022|title=Barcelona: la revolución del grafiti|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20221231/8663785/revolucion-street-art-barcelona-grafiti-arte-urbano.html|access-date=4 February 2023|website=La Vanguardia|language=es|archive-date=4 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204102921/https://www.lavanguardia.com/cultura/20221231/8663785/revolucion-street-art-barcelona-grafiti-arte-urbano.html|url-status=live}}
Career
File:Tvboy icon (colour) (cropped).jpg
TVBoy's works often depict current affairs.{{Cite web |date=29 January 2023 |title=Aquests són els grafitis que TVBoy ha pintat a Ucraïna |url=https://www.elnacional.cat/ca/barcelona/grafitis-tvboy-pintat-ucraina_960441_102.html |access-date=7 February 2023 |website=ElNacional.cat |language=ca |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207133206/https://www.elnacional.cat/ca/barcelona/grafitis-tvboy-pintat-ucraina_960441_102.html |url-status=live }} Many of his large murals are done in Gràcia, a location of much artistic culture in the city.{{Cite web |date=28 June 2021 |title=L'artista urbà Tvboy dedica la seva última obra a Pau Donés |url=https://www.elnacional.cat/ca/cultura/tvboy-dedica-grafiti-pau-dones-passeig-gracia-barcelona_623987_102.html |access-date=7 February 2023 |website=ElNacional.cat |language=ca |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207133308/https://www.elnacional.cat/ca/cultura/tvboy-dedica-grafiti-pau-dones-passeig-gracia-barcelona_623987_102.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=25 January 2023 |title=Lamentables insultos a Alexia Putellas en un mural de Barcelona |url=https://www.mundodeportivo.com/vaya-mundo/20230125/1001925424/tortillera-feminazi-lamentables-insultos-alexia-putellas-mural-barcelona-dct.html |access-date=3 February 2023 |website=Mundo Deportivo |language=es |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203113659/https://www.mundodeportivo.com/vaya-mundo/20230125/1001925424/tortillera-feminazi-lamentables-insultos-alexia-putellas-mural-barcelona-dct.html |url-status=live }} Some of his art is dedicated to local icons, including painting Montserrat Caballé and Pau Donés after their deaths.
In his pieces relating to football, he has painted Lionel Messi, described as a muse, many times. He also created a mural of Diego Maradona after his death, though, proving controversial, TVBoy replaced it with Super Alexia, depicting women's footballer Alexia Putellas.{{Cite web |date=31 March 2022 |title=Barcelona mural honors Putellas after record breaking Clasico |url=https://www.laprensalatina.com/barcelona-mural-honors-putellas-after-record-breaking-clasico/ |access-date=3 February 2023 |website=La Prensa Latina Media |language=en-US |archive-date=3 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203113700/https://www.laprensalatina.com/barcelona-mural-honors-putellas-after-record-breaking-clasico/ |url-status=live }} He added another mural of Messi after he won the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
His first official gallery show in Barcelona was Home Street Home, held in 2021 at the Casa Seat.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-14 |title=Casa Seat, tres años como referente social y cultural de Barcelona |url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/motor/actualidad/20230614/9039832/casa-seat-aniversario-tres-anos-referente-social-cultural-barcelona-tsc.html |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=La Vanguardia |language=es}}
He has created many murals to reflect support of Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, including in the Kyiv region{{Cite web |title=Gallery: The best photos from around the world |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/gallery-the-best-photos-from-around-the-world-20230202-h29k1v.html |access-date=7 February 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207131050/https://www.smh.com.au/world/gallery-the-best-photos-from-around-the-world-20230202-h29k1v.html |url-status=live }} and around Barcelona. In Barcelona, next to his mural of Putellas is one of a Ukrainian flag bearing the word "hope" with an image of a girl making its letter "O" into a peace symbol, and on one panel in Plaça Sant Jaume, the centre of Catalonia, he has created and updated various murals, depicting images including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for an end to war; children planting a peace flag on a Russian tank; and Russian president Vladimir Putin incarcerated.{{Cite web |last=Jeffery |first=Adam |title=The art of war: Artists around the world leave their mark in support of Ukraine |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/30/artists-support-ukraine-as-russia-invasion-continues.html |access-date=7 February 2023 |website=CNBC |language=en |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207131050/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/30/artists-support-ukraine-as-russia-invasion-continues.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Kelleher |first=Suzanne Rowan |title=Photos: Europe's Best-Known Street Artists Slam Putin's War In Ukraine |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2022/04/04/photos-europe-street-artists-putin-war-ukraine/ |access-date=7 February 2023 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207131633/https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2022/04/04/photos-europe-street-artists-putin-war-ukraine/ |url-status=live }} The panel was later removed during façade renovations. In January 2023, he was invited by humanitarian organisation Cesvi to travel to Bucha and Irpin in Ukraine's Kyiv oblast, sites of the Bucha massacre and Battle of Irpin, to create art to bring positivity as the nation approached a year of war. Combining football and the war in Ukraine, one of his murals depicts children playing football wearing jerseys with the numbers 20 and 23, and the names "peace" and "hope". His other murals in Ukraine depict children, too, as well as flowers and the colours of the Ukrainian flag.
Exhibitions
- Please Don't Die, 2007, Iguapop Gallery Barcelona{{Cite web |date=3 June 2015 |title=TV Boy |url=https://www.gestaltgallery.it/artist/tv-boy |website=Gestalt Gallery |access-date=22 March 2023 |archive-date=22 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322151151/https://www.gestaltgallery.it/artist/tv-boy |url-status=live }}
- 2007, Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea
- 2008, Parco della Musica
- 2008, Asbæk Gallery
- 2008, Aïshti Foundation
- Street Art Painting, 2009, Internationales Schulungszentrum (collection of many artists){{Citation |last=BTOY |title=Street Art Painting |date=31 March 2009 |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/btoy/3431415561/ |access-date=7 February 2023 |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207131632/https://www.flickr.com/photos/btoy/3431415561/ |url-status=live }}
- Reality Pop, 2010, Gestalt Gallery (collection of many artists)
- Superheroes 2.0, 2014, Gestalt Gallery (collection of many artists)
- Home Street Home, 2021, Casa Seat de Barcelona
- Jago, Banksy, TvBoy e altre storie controcorrente, November 2022–May 2023, Palazzo Albergati (collection of works by Jago, Banksy, and TVBoy){{cite magazine|date=1 November 2022|title=Jago, Banksy, TvBoy, gli "enfants terribles" dell'arte a Palazzo Albergati di Bologna|magazine=Arte Magazine|url=https://artemagazine.it/2022/11/01/jago-banksy-tvboy-gli-enfants-terribles-dellarte-a-palazzo-albergati-di-bologna/|access-date=5 February 2023|language=it-IT|archive-date=5 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205102934/https://artemagazine.it/2022/11/01/jago-banksy-tvboy-gli-enfants-terribles-dellarte-a-palazzo-albergati-di-bologna/|url-status=live}}
Gallery
{{Gallery
|title=Select TVBoy works in Spain
|width=160 | height=170
|align=center
|footer=
|File:Graffiti a Penelles. TV Boy @tvboyofficial (35965812313).jpg
|Mural in Penelles (Lleida) depicting Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump kissing
|alt1=
|File:Alèxia Putellas mural 20230516.jpg
|Super Alexia, mural in Gràcia (Barcelona) depicting Alexia Putellas as Superwoman
|alt2=
|File:MAD - 20170212 - 91 (33241983684).jpg
|A mural in Madrid depicting Manuela Carmena as Wonder Woman
|alt3=
|File:P1000726 (28516780554).jpg
|Artwork in Barcelona of Frida Kahlo with a finger moustache tattoo taking a selfie
|alt4=
}}