Very excited to be part of La Fondation Cherqui in Paris, with dozens of my works integrating the collection.
One of the most important collections of optical and kinetic art in the world, which opens the doors of its hangar to the general public, in the former laboratories of Jean Cherqui (doctor, pharmacist, statistician, initiator of the first generic medicines in the 1980s). ). An incredible place with an extraordinary collection of dazzling works that is not only an exhibition space but above all a story of family, art lovers.
The base of almost 1,000 m2 is a play space with installations, monumental works, rooms dedicated to some artists, installations, sculptures and workshops for children!
Muy emocionado de formar parte de La Fondation Cherqui en Paris, con decenas de mis trabajos integrando el acervo.
Una de las colecciones de arte óptico y cinético más importantes del mundo, que abre al público en general las puertas de su hangar, en los antiguos laboratorios de Jean Cherqui (médico, farmacéutico, estadístico, iniciador de los primeros medicamentos genéricos en los años 1980). Un lugar increíble con una extraordinaria colección de obras deslumbrantes que no es solo es un espacio de exhibición sino sobre todo una historia de familia, amantes del arte.
¡La base de casi 1.000 m2 es un espacio de juegos con instalaciones, obras monumentales, salas dedicadas a algunos artistas, instalaciones, esculturas y talleres para niños!
I used to sleep with my sketchbook beside my bed, as I would get crazy ideas that would disappear in the “awaken” state. One night I dreamt of this couple making love in one of those junkyards that I would see in the countryside in the Gargano, the rural area where I grew up in South Italy.
I didn’t want to open my eyes, I knew that the dream would fade, so I just sketched a vague scene while not looking at the paper too much, and without light.
The following weeks I researched junkyards for the reference photos in London and in Valencia, but over there it was illegal to pile up cars, and they had to be kept on cement, to prevent toxic leakages getting into the soil, and let’s not talk about the suspicion I was met with when I asked a scrapyard owner to take photos inside their premises. But it’s so true that the fortune helps the audacious, and after many visits, I found a friendly junkyard owner in Valencia. Back in my London studio I did the rest, I invited a couple of friends to pose for me for the nudes. Then it came the painting stage… Back then art was a fully-absorbing activity.
“Car Cemetery” is an oil on linen of 180x200cm (71x79in), from 2011, part of my project “Journey of no Return”.
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I used to spend time in Valencia (Spain) very often. The majestic bridges in the Turia Park, with their dark, extended shadows, fascinated me every time I passed underneath. They were real water bridges that channeled a river around the city centre until the tragic flooding of 1957. The government then decided to divert the river path towards the periphery, and created a long park on the old river bed.
I asked a few friends to pose for me under one of those bridges and while I waited for the shooting day I had been trying to meet the person who owned the red Vespa scooter, frequently parked near where I stayed, but with no luck. However, on the day of the shoot, as I passed by with all of the friends who were going to pose, I finally met the guy, unbelievably in time! I asked if he could lend us the Vespa and he generously came to the bridge with us and then he even accepted to pose on it! I composed the final scene using various photos.
In the scene, two guys are provoking each other, with a few people from the group who don’t show much interest, just as if it’s a normal thing. In the meanwhile, two nicely dressed girls pass by, one of them pretends not to see and the other one can’t help looking at the scene.
“The Fight” is a big diptych of 170x400cm (67x158in) from the project “Journey of no Return”, 2011.
From the project “Journey of no Return”:
Another complicated and long elaboration of an idea through various stages, sketches, research for places and people to pose, and finally the proper painting. The idea in “One of Them”, which is the title of this big painting, was to portray a common girl from the middle class, who would represent a generation of young people who had been deprived of their future in the wake of the 2007-08 financial crisis (little I knew by then that the worse had not come yet…). A few friends of mine kindly offered to pose for me, some of them in separate sessions. I found the building after a long search cycling around old industrial London, and also online, until I discovered this jewel of factory architecture in East Tilbury, a 1-hour train ride from London. It’s the old Bata Factory, which I went to visit and managed to enter to take a few shots. Although photos are sometimes forbidden, i feel that, as an artist, I can’t use second-hand material borrowed from the internet, I need to see with my eyes to form a scene.
Curiously, the same day that I was taking pictures of my friends pretending to through stones, in Tottenham, a North London District, many young people started to actually through stones and bottles to the police, and the situation soon degenerated in what is now notoriously remembered as the 2011 “London Riots“, that spread across the UK main cities. Of course, I went to witness those events in first person, and they led me to make other paintings for this darker series that describes the way many felt during those difficult transitioning years.
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