«My monsters are not bad, they accompany me, they talk to me, they are close to me. And by drawing them I also understood my stylistic signature, my style, alphabet and language.” Drawing is an intimate and primordial gesture, an act that… Elena Salmistraro it becomes therapy; drawing is passion, obsession, necessity. Until February 8, La Antonio Colombo gallery Of Milano presents Alchemy in the Voidthe first solo exhibition of the artist and designer, curated by Silvana Annicchiarico.
In an unprecedented way the artist chooses to express himself mainly through drawing and the paintinghighlighting the deeper and more artistic side of his work, opening the doors to a fantastic world, populated by curious figures. In this universe populated by hybrid and deformed characters, he faces his fears and those of the world, creating an imaginary where the Horror Vacui – the fear of the void – is exorcised through a continuous flow of signs and colors. The concept of monstrum – understood as a prodigy that fascinates and disturbs – becomes central in the poetics of Salmistraro. Your monsters and his freakswhich she has been drawing since she was little, are border bodies between human and animal, but also between figuration and abstraction and invite us to explore the hidden side of our being, to look beyond the surface.
The title, Alchemy in the Voidrecalls a dichotomy that runs through all the work of the artist and designer, in fact in his works every space is filled and the physical void is transformed into a place of reflection e metamorphosis. His aesthetic draws on neo-primitivism, surrealism and magical realism, dissolving the boundaries between playful and thedreamlike.
If the gallery is a clean space, a naked shell with white and aseptic walls, the void will host monsters, freaks, nightmares e fears – perhaps outdated, symbols of change and integration, and manifestos of a new concept of beauty. In addition to the large paintings on canvas, a rug produced by Tai Ping, two totems and three villages made by Bosa Ceramiche, hand painted by the artist, and a wooden sculpture produced by Scapin, which are all the result of personal and artistic reflection developed over the years.
dove: Antonio Colombo Gallery, via Solferino 44, Milan
when: until February 8
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