TEEN WONDER
Embrace your inner superhero in Teen Wonder, a fantastical journey through Johnny Romeo’s Kitsch Pop universe that shows even iconic Renaissance statues can dare to dream. A dynamic fusion of classical sculpture and cape-crusading antics, the painting reimagines Michelangelo’s ‘David’ as Robin, the iconic Boy Wonder and faithful sidekick to Batman. With a mask and bold ‘R’ marking his chest, the iconic Biblical Teen Wonder David is reborn as a Teen Wonder for the comic book age, ready to take on the Gotham underground alongside his Dark Knight mentor. Echoing Michelangelo’s original sculpture, this David stands on the precipice of battle with Goliath, his gaze a mixture of focus, determination and tightly wound anticipation. Carrying the psychological and emotional weight of impending conflict, the painting’s Renaissance Robin is wracked with nerves and appears slightly strung out, a point deftly conveyed in the text passage ‘Forever Strung Young’. Romeo humorously plays with the notion of David as a sculpture, forced to live out eternity with his ‘forever strung’ expression. At the same time, the word assemblage draws inspiration from the 1984 synth pop classic by Alphaville ‘Forever Young’ to deliver a playful meditation on the wide-eyed wonderment of youth and suspended adolescence. Just as David is frozen in marble, Robin remains eternally youthful in the DC comic book universe as a teen hero preserved in time. In doing so, the painting draws clever parallels between two great Teen Wonders of Pop culture, one a great wonder of Renaissance art and the other a cultural wonder of comic book lore. References to Robin recur throughout Romeo’s latest series, connecting narratives across eras and serving as a recurring symbol of youth and rebirth. Teen Wonder is a celebration of what it means to be young, and our timeless fascination with our heroes—whether carved in stone or inked in panels.