It’s brilliant and frustrating when you find an artist whose work you wish you had made yourself. One such artist is Salvatore Arancio whose work I saw for the first time at the Frieze Art Fair in October 2010. Most impressive for me were his photo etchings of mountainous landscapes, presumably found images, that were (again presumably) subsequently manipulated to create what appear to be ‘post-surrealist’ scenes. As someone who has not spent nearly enough time etching, and who is not a great technician, I was extremely jealous to see these images realised so beautifully, so black, so evocative of a different and past order of image making. Not only does Arancio’s work have a certain ‘look’ that I have been pursuing and a similarity in curatorial practice, but I seem to be following a similar conceptual path too.
His gallery Frederica Schiavo Gallery explain,
“Arancio’s main interest lies in the potential of images. Departing from their literal meaning, he creates new juxtapositions that are both beautifully evocative and deeply disquieting. He looks to nature and science for his sources of inspiration, while unsettling any hint of the sublime by re-framing the images and the viewer’s experience. His constructed landscapes contain a sense of both the familiar and the unknown that enhances their symbolic readings and implications” (1)
This is about as much as I would hope anyone to say about my work.
To top it all he was born the same year as me. What does one do? Carry on regardless and keep pushing the boundaries of one’s own work and hope that the synchronicity is only temporary.
- Salvatore Arancio – A Series of Potent Fountain Geysers Shutter a Vast Ice Field, 2008
- Photo-etching on paper
- 37,5 x 43,5 cm
- [image courtesy of http://www.federicaschiavo.com/]
- Salvatore Arancio – La Face Nord De La Dent Du Geant/Vue Aerienne, 2009
- Ink and collage on printed paper, wood, paint
- 70 x 40 cm
- [image courtesy of http://www.federicaschiavo.com/]
Intellectual Simulation 