‘Land’-ing on the Moon: Italian Artist Honors Astronaut Neil Armstrong

Tags: Currents Art, Artwork, Faith, Inspiration, Pope Paul VI, Science, Science & Technology, Vatican, World News

Currents News Staff

Just in time for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, an Italian artist is remembering American astronaut Neil Armstrong in a very interesting way: in dirt.

Dario Gambarin, an expert in land art in Verona, Italy chose to honor the first man to walk on the moon by etching Neil Armstrong’s face across a wheat field.

While the commemoration is unexpected, the astronaut probably would have found the sole way to view the entire piece of artwork quite interesting: from above, in the sky. 

Dario Gambarin plowed just over an acre of land to create Armstrong’s likeness. 

“I went to study the terrain, its size and its shape. I tried to fix the image in my head and with the power of the imagination I created the work,” he said. 

Included within the sketch is the date of the moon landing. While in the United States it is remembered as July 20,  Italy is six hours ahead, making it the early morning hours of June 21, 1969.

From childhood, Gambarin remembers watching Armstrong’s one small step that changed mankind forever. That’s why he wanted to put his effort into this freelance piece, showing the first man to walk on the moon complete with his spacesuit. 

While the canvas and tools for this piece of art are quite rare to find, there’s only one question artist Dario Gambarin wants to know: If it can be seen from the moon.