22MUSE Antwerp presents Giacomo Piussi

PEOPLE I KNOW - GIACOMO PIUSSI

22MUSE cordially invites you to the opening of ‘People I Know’, a solo exhibition featuring oil paintings on canvas by Giacomo Piussi.

Opening: Thursday 18 September, 18:00 - 21:00

Exhibition: 18 September - 18 October

Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 18:00

Gallery: 22Muse, Oudaan 22, 2000 Antwerp

Contact: +32 467 00 26 27 or info@22muse.com

"It is an ideal world that recalls common gestures, a step away from the flow of time and in the same moment, part of contemporary life".

About the artist:

Giacomo Piussi was born in 1967 in Udine, and lives and works in Florence. His work develops the idea of substituting the written word with images that is typical of much of the art of non-literate societies of the past. The images are those of a world reduced to its essence. Where every element has a function and very little is added to what is needed for the core meaning to be delivered, with a style that is inspired by early renaissance art in its clarity of intent: rather than imitating nature appearance, there is a reach for the philosophical structure underlying life and relations.

The environment and the characters that live within it are the quintessence of ease, peace and self-containment. The figures are gods in their daily Olympus. It is an ideal world that recalls common gestures, a step away from the flow of time and in the same moment, part of contemporary life. The drama, or the lack of thereof, is played out in simplified, almost abstract spaces, geometric backgrounds in which self-aware characters inhabit bourgeois interiors or a minimalist wilderness.

 

The artist about his work:

“My work is simple: the subject matter is stripped to the basics and what remains is an icon withan aura of philosophical suspension, and a window into the enigma of existence. The drawings onwhich the paintings are build are precise and have the same aim as those made by caveman ,which was to give a shape to their desires, their dreams.

Italian art from the Middle Ages showed me how painting can communicate across barriers of low literacy, and it is with this concept in mind that I make art, delivering a message simple and unambiguous.

Tuscan early Renaissance painting, Giotto and Fra Beato Angelico in particular, had great influence in my upbringing as an artist, specifically for the composition and narrative technique.My aim is to I create a neutral atmosphere, away from any kind of engagement. The purpose of doing so is to elevate the fictional characters I paint into a place outside of the real world: it’s a redacted version of reality where the weight of existence is edited out.

The characters I paint come in the form of essential shapes that relate to the geometric spacescreated in the canvas more than to any pretense of realism or anatomical accuracy. The paintingscene is organized in a “matter of fact” fashion, self sufficient and self explanatory, similar to anadvertisement.

The subjects are inspired by real life in a very loose way; some are from my life experience, someare made up or inspired by things I read or movies or art I see. I am open to all kind of visualinfluence.

What inspires me are people , their aura, how they inhabit the space around them, how they relateto one another visually. Art of the past also inspires me: there’s always much to explore in a painted figure, it tells us a lot about ourselves and the time we live in , it’s the mirrored image of one’s self.

My work routine consists of drawing a lot. I don’t draw from live subjects but from memory, this way I highlight something peculiar of the subject or the situation, after which I rearrange the composition on canvas. My paintings are in the middle ground between calculated and instinctive and it’s the workflow that makes every choice spontaneous.”

‘Piussi opens a hidden door, he leads our gaze to a world that swallows us, based on a contemporary reality, while also showing us an alluring alternative that suddenly absorb us and makes us a part of its conversations, of its crystal clear daily life. And so it happens, almost by magic, to turn the eye and recognise the images around us, to see through their eyes, and this is no dream, but a possibility, a solution o the our most ordinary days.’ - Lorenzo Nannelli

About the gallery
‘22MUSE is a contemporary art gallery born out of a profound passion for the arts. Established by Francis Van Laer and partners, Francis an alumnus of the Sotheby’s Institute of Art with a specialization in Art & Business, the gallery is dedicated to strike a delicate balance between exhibiting art in a way that honours the artist’s vision in the most compelling manner while offering clients an experience that harmonises beauty with e