Caffè Zero

a live painting brand activation on the Darsena for Algida.

Caffè Zero is a live painting created by artist Neve in 2015 at the Darsena, Milan, for Algida (Unilever), as part of the Eyes Open project.

A live painting commission for Algida's "Caffè Zero" product, part of the Eyes Open project, executed at the Darsena in Milan in 2015. The Darsena — the old dock at the confluence of Milan's canals, one of the city's most trafficked public spaces — was the setting for a live performance in which Neve created a large-scale work in front of an audience. The painting shows a woman's face broken into geometric facets — a crystal or diamond structure fracturing the portrait into warm terracotta and cool grey planes, the eyes intact and direct through the fragmentation. The technique departs from Neve's purely hyperrealistic approach and moves toward something more graphic, more designed — the surface shattered but the gaze held.