October 30 – December 19 2021
Francesco Damiani solo exhibition
The organic sculptures of Francesco Damiani stretch out towards the space creating a dialogue with the spectator. The ensemble of full and empty volumes tells a story, it tells both intimate and far tales.
The abstraction of the subject shapes itself and goes beyond itself, the lines become words, the geometry becomes paragraphs reorganised into personal diaries.
The sculpture comes out of the idea of its static nature and heaviness to turn into light suspensions, made by modules that dovetail and reverberate each other, modifying themselves in time and space.
The used materials are playful in their colours and textures as they are experienced by our sight and touch. They evoke our childhood.
The artist uses a large amount of cellulose and rubber dough, the “light clay” employed by children in Orient to achieve familiarity with clay.
Damiani uses secondary shades to represent light through its refraction. Colours, which are the result of a perceptual illusion, grab the contemporary world vibrations and they infuse its tremor.
The chemical studies of Damiani influence the artworks appearance with references to cellular morphology, thin layers of organised matter and evolutionary forms that interrogate the limit between organic and living being.
The sculptures integrate and perfectly conform to the surroundings, revolutionising the space and blending with it into one, creating novel shapes for the specific set-up.
The exhibition title is inspired by the homonymous Dua Lipa’s song to refer to the pop inspiration of the artist, revealed by colours, playfulness and lightness of his artworks. They are so lightweight that they become alive and levitate in the air.
The exhibition subheading “Suspensions” is a cross reference to Jhon Cage’s suspensions (The silence, 1961) and refers to the chemical meaning of the word. A suspension is a dispersion, an heterogeneous blend, in which a solid phase with microscopic particle dimension dissolves into a dispersed liquid phase which is not able to sediment in a short period of time.
The artist’s personal interpretation of the suspension is wait, judgement postponement, it means also the capability of being not in a rush, to trust others and ourselves, to concede freedom as his artworks are a freedom symbol.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Francesco Damiani was born in Bari, is now working in Emilia. He studied chemistry at Bari University and at Fiat Research Center in Torino. Art and design enthusiastic, he attended Tam Tam school of Guerriero, Mendini and Dalisi in Milan. He has been a collector adviser in the design field. Currently, he dedicates himself to teaching and art.
EXHIBITION
I’m like you at 17, QU4RANTAN9VE, Reggio Emilia, 2018.
XXXX, Galleria Samma, Urbino, 2020.
CONTACT
https://www.instagram.com/damiani.francesco1975/?hl=it
https://www.francescodamianiartwork.com/