"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night..."
This revolutionary poem Ginsberg wrote it in 1955, the year I was born. I read it in the 70s when the translated texts of the Beat Generation arrived thanks to Fernanda Pivano.
It is a lacerating poem and still relevant even if we are moving towards the metaverse ...


Monky & Beat Generation

“I wish to descend in the social scale.
High society is low society.
I am a social climber
climbing downward
And the descent is difficult.
(- Junkman’s Obbligato)”
Ferlinghetti was a poet and publisher. He also published the early works of Kerouac and Ginsberg

Monky & Beat Generation - Ferlinghetti

Music is reflected in the literature of every era in American history, and the soundtrack, indeed the heartbeat, of the Beat Generation was modern jazz. Specifically, it was the propulsive, adventurous and boundary defying sound of bebop, which had evolved during the early and mid-1940s out of the swing era of the previous decade, that captured the imagination of the Beat writers and their followers. With its concentration on small-group dynamics and solo virtuosity, bebop could be seen as a necessary reaction to big band swing’s stifling rigidity of form and structure. Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and other giants provided the rhythm for the work and a model for the lifestyle of the Beats, who adopted the “hep cat” lingo of the musicians and in many cases unfortunately, their taste for heroin, Benzedrine and other drugs.

Monky & Beat Generation - Charlie Parker

"The Beat Generation is a group of children on the street corner talking about the end of the world"
(Jack Kerouac)
Each artist is a witness of his time and his past. In 1972, after reading Kerouac's "On the Road" at the age of 17, I grabbed a backpack and hitchhiked around Europe. A unique experience. With this book Kerouac marked the birth of the Beat Generation.
For me it was the beginning of making art.

Monky & Beat Generation - Kerouac

Artist Renzo Nucara presents “Monky Beat Generation,” a series following his alter ego, and protagonist of his works, Monky as he explores the key figures of the Beat Generation.

In 1969 when Nucara was 17, he read “On the Road.” After being inspired, that same summer he packed a backpack and embarked on an adventure hitchhiking around Europe for 2 months. This very trip inspired him to begin creating art.

As a tribute to the people who inspired his artistic journey, Nucara has created 4 pieces highlighting different founding members of the Beat Generation: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, and Charlie Parker.

Monky Beat Generation

CURATORIAL STATEMENT