Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Milan, 3 September to 26 October 2025
This autumn, the Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan is hosting something truly special: Peter Gabriel. Frammentazione dell’identità (Fragmentation of Identity). Running from 3 September to 26 October 2025 at the museum’s Art Pavilion, the exhibition is the third and final chapter of the series Echoes. Origins and Remnants of British Art Rock. Curated by Francesco Spampinato, the cycle has already explored the Beatles and the psychedelic worlds of Pink Floyd, Yes, and Genesis. Now it concludes with one of the most innovative and theatrical figures in progressive rock: Peter Gabriel.
For fans of art rock, the show is a feast. It combines original Hipgnosis artwork, rare letters, photographs by Guido Harari and Anna Gabriel, multimedia experiments from the 1990s, and references to artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Keith Haring, and Kiki Smith. But for me, as the founder of Musical Brick, it has an even more personal dimension: among these treasures are my own LEGO minifigures of Peter Gabriel’s stage personas, on display in the atrium of the museum.
Peter Gabriel: Masks, Personas, and Identity
The exhibition revolves around Gabriel’s lifelong exploration of identity. As the front man of Genesis in the early 1970s, he was known not just for his voice and songwriting but for his costumes. He would appear on stage as a fox-headed woman in a red dress (Foxtrot, 1972), as a giant flower during “Supper’s Ready,” or as Rael, the protagonist of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974). Later in his solo career, he continued to explore transformation through makeup, masks, and pioneering music videos such as Shock the Monkey (1982).
In a 1986 interview, Gabriel himself said:
“I firmly believe that the mask is a tool through which the artist can express certain parts of his personality, rather than a means to hide behind.”
(Armando Gallo, Peter Gabriel, Photo G, One Love Production, Rome 1986)
This philosophy runs throughout the exhibition. His “fragmented identity” is presented not as a weakness but as the key to his creativity. By continually reinventing himself, Gabriel blurred the line between performance, persona, and reality. It feels remarkably relevant today, in an age where digital identities and avatars are part of everyday life.
Exhibition Highlights
Hipgnosis and Album Art
One of the centrepieces is the original artwork created by Hipgnosis for The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The display includes correspondence between Gabriel and Storm Thorgerson, showing how deeply Gabriel was involved in shaping the album’s conceptual universe. The show also includes fine art prints of the covers for his first three solo albums, Car (1977), Scratch (1978), and Melt (1980).
Photography and Portraits
Anna Gabriel contributes a powerful close-up of her father’s eyes from her series EYE-D, where the eyes of well-known personalities become intimate portraits in themselves. Guido Harari’s photograph of Gabriel in full Shock the Monkey makeup, taken at the 1983 Sanremo Festival, captures another facet of his theatrical identity.
Artistic Parallels
To situate Gabriel in a wider cultural context, the exhibition also includes references to other artists. Man Ray’s photograph of Rrose Sélavy, Marcel Duchamp’s female alter ego, Keith Haring’s mechanical figures, and Kiki Smith’s ambiguous, transfigured bodies all echo Gabriel’s fascination with identity, transformation, and fragility.
Multimedia and Memorabilia
The 1990s section features Gabriel’s experiments with interactive CD-ROMs, showing how he embraced technology long before it was fashionable. In the atrium, visitors will also find memorabilia from his career, including, to my great pride, LEGO figurines of his stage characters.
Musical Brick in Milan
The exhibition proudly acknowledges Musical Brick as the creator of the LEGO figurines on display. For me, it is deeply rewarding to see these models, which began as a fan project, presented in such a prestigious context and credited alongside the other artworks and memorabilia.
I founded Musical Brick out of a passion for both LEGO and progressive rock. Over the years I have designed custom minifigures and dioramas of iconic musicians and their stage personas, working only with genuine LEGO elements and carefully chosen parts. For Gabriel, this has meant recreating:
The Fox-Headed Woman from Foxtrot (1972), combining the surreal animal mask with the flowing red dress.
The Flower from Supper’s Ready, reimagined through a stylized LEGO headpiece.
Other characters from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway performances, where Gabriel embodied multiple figures in a single show.
Attention to detail has always been at the heart of these builds. They respect LEGO’s design language, avoiding knock-off parts, relying on minimal custom printing, and focusing instead on the expressive potential of existing elements. The outcome is work that feels playful yet precise, whimsical but always respectful of the original music and imagery.
Peter Gabriel himself has encountered these minifigures. On his official website, Musical Brick is credited as their creator, and he shared a simple, delighted reaction: “I love this!” To now have them included in a major museum exhibition, formally recognized as part of Gabriel’s visual and cultural legacy, feels like the highest validation of this journey.
Echoes: Origins and Remnants of British Art Rock
This exhibition is the third and final part of Echoes. Origins and Remnants of British Art Rock.
The first show focused on The Beatles, examining how their music and imagery transformed cultural identity in the 1960s.
The second explored the psychedelic imagination of Pink Floyd, Yes, and Genesis, including artworks by Paul Whitehead and Colin Elgie.
Now, the focus shifts to Peter Gabriel, whose identity experiments bridged prog rock, glam, multimedia, and world music.
Together, the three exhibitions trace how British rock not only produced great music but also sparked new forms of visual culture, combining album art, stagecraft, performance, and technology in ways that still resonate today.
Radio Monte Carlo Playlist
To accompany the show, Radio Monte Carlo is the official media partner. Music designer Marco Fullone has curated a special playlist, inspired by the albums, artworks, and themes in the exhibition. It spans the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, and Gabriel’s solo career, tying the musical journey to the visual one. Visitors can listen via QR codes in the gallery or directly on Spotify.
🎧 Listen to the Radio Monte Carlo Playlist
Why LEGO Fits
At first glance, LEGO and progressive rock might seem like strange bedfellows. But to me, they belong together. Both are about building worlds.
Progressive rock constructs elaborate narratives, blending music, theatre, and visual spectacle into immersive experiences.
LEGO allows us to build, dismantle, and rebuild those worlds in miniature, capturing the essence of characters, costumes, and performances brick by brick.
Gabriel’s theme of fragmented identity finds a natural echo in LEGO. A minifigure can be taken apart, reconfigured, and remade into something new. Just as Gabriel used masks and costumes to explore hidden parts of himself, LEGO allows us to reimagine identity in playful but meaningful ways.
A Personal Reflection
For me, seeing Musical Brick figures in Milan is not just a personal milestone. It is a reminder of how fan creativity can cross into cultural recognition. What began as a passion project, combining childhood bricks with a lifelong love of prog rock, has now found a place alongside Hipgnosis, Harari, and Duchamp.
To see my work formally credited in a museum context, among such prestigious company, is both humbling and exhilarating. It shows how ideas born from personal passion can become part of a larger cultural story.
Practical Information
Exhibition Title: Peter Gabriel. Frammentazione dell’identità
Dates: 3 September to 26 October 2025
Venue: Padiglione d’Arte, Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Corso Venezia 52, Milan
Admission: Free
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm (last entry 6:00 pm)
More info at Fondazione Luigi Rovati
Closing Thoughts
Peter Gabriel once said that masks are not to hide behind, but to reveal parts of the self. That is what this exhibition is about. And in their own way, that is what the LEGO minifigures do too.
For prog fans, for LEGO fans, and for anyone fascinated by the intersections of art, music, and identity, this show is unmissable. For me, it is a dream come true. To have Musical Brick creations not only recognized by Peter Gabriel himself but also officially credited in a major Milanese art exhibition is a reminder of how far a simple idea can travel. From bricks on a table to the walls of a museum, these models now stand proudly as part of Gabriel’s legacy.
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