Wunderkammern Roma, via Giulia 180, Rome
A cura di Giuseppe Pizzuto
Critical text by Giuseppe Pizzuto
October 22 to November 26, 2022
Signum focuses on the value of the sign over time, representing the intersection of the lines that form our history. “By tracing, we leave the mark of what has been, who has passed, what we don’t want to forget, we overlay what we don’t like or contrast what is already there,” says the artist.
Solomostry draws inspiration from the making of his particular ceramics, which in turn are inspired by Etruscan and Greek vessels that have come down to us despite the ravages of time. Solomostry’s ceramics are an interesting contemporary reinterpretation of this and reveal not only a strong interest in what has gone before, but also in the mark left by time. This is the source of the idea that the artist translated into street art: “On walls nothing is forever,” he declares, “every layer is alive until another layer is ready to tell a new story, thus covering the previous one”. Solomostry’s interest is indeed in analyzing the sedimentation of the different marks left over time and who will survive it, representing past, present and future together.
The characteristic of Solomostry’s Work emphasizes a dirty, rough stroke with thick color passes that shape geometric figures: faces of nightmares that through their scrutinizing eyes – Solomostry’s hallmark – convey strong emotions, feelings and anxieties.
“Wonder and awe, but also a little fear. Solomostry’s lines combine and mess up until they create expressions that are difficult to decipher. In this tension, in this doubt, lies the essence of the exhibition. By focusing on sign and time, we get from the monsters a kind of memento mori.” Is how curator and director Giuseppe Pizzuto describes the artist’s Work.
Twenty-four works make up Signum, ranging from painting to sculpture: from the splendid hand-painted and engraved ceramics to the series of works made on rotary press printing foils used to make newspaper pages dating back to 2012, a year of great importance to the artist, alluding to the end of the world announced by the ancient Mayan calendar. These works are unique because they have never been made before, unpublished, and impossible to replicate since their uniqueness lies precisely in the use of the newspaper foil.
Additional works are added with his mark of recognition imprinted on the canvas, a desire to leave an imprint and a trace that will survive into the future, as well as large paintings on wood, evidence of the passage of Many. Also set up are two large-format banners aimed at encompassing the viewer as a backdrop for making photographs: the camera is the most immediate way to preserve history, memory and memories.
Lastly, a catalog entitled: “Random from my phone 2021/2022” is scheduled to be presented, paginated using only screenshots from the artist’s cell phone photo library with the date and place set by default.
Media Partners: Arsity, Artuu, FACE Magazine
Technical Partners: Eurograph, Abbazia di Busco, The CicerOne