If you're in Florence, Italy, and see a man on a ladder wiping the dust off statues and buildings, don't worry.It's just Alessandro Ricci gathering material for his famous smog paintings. Ricci is not a common artist, because he used smog as the main medium of his artworks. Unlike other painters seeking fast recognition of their talent, he doesn't really care about "being this big artist".Instead he is more concerned about bringing attention to how much smog there really is in his home town and how it's destroying both its monuments and people. Although he did take a couple of art classes a few years back, he is mainly self-taught, doesn't work in a studio, donates most of his work, and refuses to play by the rules of the Florentine Art Gallery, which he considers corrupt.Alessandro Ricci believes selling his smog paintings will not only compromise his principles, but also contradict the very thing he's trying to do-raise awareness about smog pollution in this city. Alessandro lives with his parents nearby Florence, but almost every day he visits the streets of the city, and collects smog for his paintings.He gets it from several meters above ground, from clean surfaces like marble, plastic and stone, using damp pieces of cotton.Then he applies the smog directly onto a cloth and creates street scenes and reproductions of the very buildings from which he got the dangerous material.Finally, he seals his paintings with a natural resin  . His actions helped win a small victory for the people of Florence, as in October 25, 2012 the Duomo area of the city was made pedestrian-only.But there is still a long way to go, the artist believes, and only cleaning the thick layer of smog that has accumulated throughout Florence would take several years.Still, he continues to paint his unique smog artworks and let the people know how polluted the environment they live in really is. Ricci paints his unique smog artworks aiming to  _  .
fight government corruption advertise the monuments create more street scenes raise awareness about pollution