Christoph Radl and the little man suspended between play, critique and art history
Why is this little man hanging on the wall? That’s the immediate question posed by the new work by Christoph Radl, part of his Fat Boy series, now featured in the Corriere Art Collection. The image recalls the iconic performance by Maurizio Cattelan, who famously taped first his gallerist and then the infamous banana to a wall: a gesture that entered history and turned artistic action into a media event.
Radl reinterprets that episode with his recurring character: a surreal, chubby and childlike little man. This small protagonist draws inspiration from pre-Columbian imagery, but over time has become a kind of alter ego for the artist – not for his looks, but for his position as both observer and accomplice of contemporary art.
The result is an image that is at once ironic and critical: Radl’s “Fat Boy” is both victim and actor within a system that turns everything – ideas and provocations alike – into emotions, power and market. It’s Radl’s way of telling the fragility and ambiguity of today’s art world, while maintaining a playful, graphic, almost comic-book gaze.
This special cover is part of the Corriere Art Collection with a collectible issue available from Tuesday 21, September. Inside, a QR code grants access to exclusive digital content: animations that expand the visual experience and bring Radl’s work to life.
An international artist with roots in design
Born in Sankt Gallen (Switzerland) in 1954 and a long-time Milan resident, Christoph Radl is an internationally renowned Art Director, currently Creative Director of Cabana Magazine. His career spans fashion and design, marked by a refined, minimalist graphic style. As an artist, he stages a more instinctive and ironic language, playing with the visual codes of art and communication.
His clumsy, caricature-like little man thus becomes a symbol of freedom and self-irony, a small witness to art’s ability to speak about itself and about us. With this work, Radl invites viewers to look beyond the image and grasp the fine line between provocation and reflection, between play and critique.
As Gianluigi Colin, artistic director of Corriere della Sera, notes:
“Christoph Radl’s little man is at once playful and melancholic, both victim and protagonist: a figure that makes us smile but also forces us to reflect on the art system and its ability to turn everything into symbols and market.”
A digital experience
The decision to include a QR code on the cover is no coincidence: the Corriere Art Collection seeks to build a bridge between print and digital, giving readers exclusive access to extra and unpublished materials. In Radl’s case, the animations allow viewers to immerse themselves in his graphic and ironic universe, discovering nuances that remain hidden on paper.
With this new issue, the Corriere Collection adds a chapter that speaks of cross-pollination between arts, languages and media – showing how even within a series one can find both the lightness of a graphic sign and the depth of critical discourse.