MUHAMMAD ALI’s first fight with JOE FRAZIER in 1971 was a landmark New York City event, entering history as THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY.
NEMESIS is an artistic homage to this fight in the form of an installation of 15 huge paintings, each 8 feet tall and up to 16 feet wide, meant to be viewed as a whole.
Influences include Francis Bacon’s experiments with boxing, and Muybridge’s photographs of human motion.
The Fight of the Century is here reimagined as a treatise on the human body in motion and under duress. The inner life of a legendary fight is conveyed with power, refinement, pathos and BIG SCREEN impact.
Nemesis is a museum grade masterpiece on a colossal scale, with a people friendly narrative, paying homage to a historic New York City event. There is nothing like it in contemporary art.
It was painted entirely in New York City with kind help, along the way, from the likes of Music Mogul Chris Blackwell and Film Director Spike Lee.
It was completed during The Covid lockdown.
Sebastian Ferretti
January, 2026
