Constantly subjected to the vision of images, observed with eyes influenced by the culture and society in which we live, we are inclined to identify and recognise references to reality. This condition is subverted in the harmonious and surrealistic works of Alessandro Gioiello, who places the viewers of his works in a state of bewilderment that upsets their visual canons. In his works, the artist takes possession of pre-existing images and provides them with a new and different meaning using the collage technique or pulverised wool fibres used to replace traditional pigments for paint. According to Gioiello, collage is a “form of writing”, a way of thinking in images that allows him to change and expand the meaning of existing works characterised by histories of their own over time. The artist has developed a unique approach to this technique: when reproducing paintings from the history of art, he creates visual windows where he inserts parts of other paintings, taken from different periods and with different subjects, thus upsetting the original iconography and providing new interpretative pathways that give life to a third and new work of art.
The other line of research that characterises Gioiello’s work is the use of pulverised wool fibres as pigments to create paintings with soft colours and blurred outlines almost as if the images were shrouded in mist. This is a very slow and meticulous procedure in which handwork plays a central role, since the wool powder penetrates the velcro holder thanks to the pressure of the fingers. The image therefore emerges slowly, unlike in a traditional collage where quick and confident technique results in well-defined outlines.
It is interesting to notice that Gioiello considers these two techniques as opposite forces used to reflect on the same theme, which is the current perception of images and their fruition.
Alessandro Gioiello (Savigliano, 1982) lives and works in Racconigi. He studied painting at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin and at the Minerva Art Academy in Groningen (Netherlands). From 2007 to 2011 he was a tutor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan. He was a finalist for the Cairo Award in 2010, Michetti Award in 2012, Lissone Award in 2014 and Matteo Oliver Award in 2017. Some of his works belong to the collections of Unicredit Private Banking and MAC in Lissone.
SP
