Throughout the realisation of these various pieces (the Saw, the Brush and the Bathrobe), my aim has been to explore and investigate thoughts and emotions, related to experiences and memories. A sort of ‘story telling’ in which the work is accompanied by a variety of tangible objects, in order to make visible that thin line which divides ‘yesterday from today’.
This exploration of the relationship between ‘past and present’, through the use of personal and found objects, is highlighted by the importance of the story concealed within the work. The allegory, which accompanies each piece, is the real protagonist. Thus, this also creates the fundamental connection between ARTIST>WORK>VIEWER, in which the artist, through the work, gives the possibility to the viewer to interact passively within its own creation. This ‘threefold relationship’ gives to the spectator the opportunity to become temporarily ‘an artist’, through the action of imagining the story suggested by each piece and their own title.
Evolutionary Process: Grandfather, Father and Son…The Artist.
100 years of progress, and finally the saw gets its 15 minutes of glory!
The Saw: a found object which metaphorically represents, concomitant with the chair, the succession of generations, which finally brought it to its deserved fame. An allegory inspired by Avant-garde Art movements, emphasising the irony concealed within the world of contemporary art.
The Painting
The Brush: a ‘real evidence’ of an evoking story, in which the viewer is guided into a creative process of imagining the true final art work, the missing painting.
The Painting
“This is the brush of a friend of mine. He used this brush to paint a beautiful picture; it was simple, yet full of life. In the background, there was the sea merging into the vast sky: blue, white and grey described the movements of the waves, with that of the clouds.
It was magnificent in all its simplicity. But there was an element that was able to hypnotize your staring eyes: a little joyful girl, playing with a red balloon. Even though she was painted so small, she seemed alive, and you could almost hear her laugh, accompanied by the calming music of the sea.
It was a beautiful painting; everyone wanted it! So much so, that one day, unfortunately, someone broke into my friend’s flat and had the same reaction that all the people that looked at it used to have: a great desire to take it, just to be able to gaze at it every morning and every night, to enjoy the oneiric moment that it suggested.
So, together with other things, the painting was gone. What a shame! At least my friend still had the brush that helped him to create it, that now he has no more though…”
…and so I had an argument with Leroy Johnson, from Fame
This is the only piece chosen from my previous exhibition Control. The Bathrobe: the tangible testimony of a peculiar experience had more than 10 years ago, when I found myself having an argument with the dancer that during my teens was my idol, Leroy Johnson from Fame. All of this because one night, after various vicissitudes had already happened, I went home and he was there, wearing my bathrobe. Running between the representation of a fallen idol and the way of looking at things (and people) in very different ways, while years go by, this piece is created to emphasise the irony which surrounds our lives. I would also say that this is a fundamental piece within my career as an artist, because it has changed the course of my work within its composition, its meaning and its aesthetic appearance.
This piece with rust was also realised thinking about England and the Rain, but referring to something very different, my second year work. It was mainly focused into the exploration of the materials (metal and copper), rusting them, changing their composition... so that this piece became like a metaphor to say goodbye to my old style. That refers to the choice of placing few sheets of rusted metal on top of a surface made by paint and plaster, on mdf, dripping water on it, in order to leave the stains, and to finally remove the metal sheets as to say 'Getting over it'. Also emphasising through the stains the presence of something that was there in the past, that now there is no more, but that still, in some way, makes itself present.
I have been studying this artist while considering him one of the most inspiring and eclectic figure within the world of art. His concept of 'SOCIAL SCULPTURE', that art can alter society and that 'EVERYONE IS AN ARTIST', worked towards a project that, as he believed, could lead to a transformation of society through the release of popular creativity.
