Showing posts with label Exhibition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exhibition. Show all posts

Saturday, 20 September 2025

An Artist and His Grand-Daughter

Recently, we had an unusual art exhibition in Schio (click on the pictures for a bigger view).

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

It presented the works of a hidden artist, someone who had a passion for art, even while he worked in a wool factory and as a house-painter, white-washing the homes. And it was organised by his grand-daughter Alice who had promised her grandfather Romano Benazzi that one day she will organise an art exhibition for him.

The exhibition was called, Nonno Raccontami Un Quadro (Grandpa, tell me a picture).

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

Romano Benazzi's Life-Story

Romano was born in a village near Ferrara (Italy) in 1941. During the second World War, his father died while fighting in Ukraine. Raised by a single mother, he started working in the fields at a young age. When he was sixteeen, under a Government programme, he came to spend some days with a family in Pieve Belvicino, a few kilometres north of Schio in north-east part of Italy.

A couple of years later, he came back to Pieve in the same programme, but this time a guest of another set of families. Both these experiences created in him strong links of family and friendship, and he fell in love with the beauty of this mountainous area.

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

He found work with a local firm engaged in painting houses. It was also the period when he started sketching with pencil and charcoal. He fell in love with a local girl, and thus found his wife Gina, who worked in a bar in Pieve. He also took on a second work, at the Lanerossi wool mills of Pieve, while they came to live in Magre area of Schio. They had two children, Guido and Daniela.

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

Over the years he continued with his passion for art, experimenting with different art mediums including oil paints. After his retirement, he devoted himself completely to his art, in spite of developing Parkinson disease (a disease which causes tremors in hands and difficulties in movements).

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

Romano lives in a house of elderly persons and even if Parkinson disease limits his manual capabilities, in fact sometimes he doesn't like the results of his efforts, but he still continues to be an artist. The image below has one of his recent sketches with charcoal, where frustrated by his lack of control over his hand movements and unhappy with the result, he covered it with charcoal.

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

Conclusions

In these pictures you can see some of his works. I was deeply touched by the idea of his grand-daughter Alice, daughter of his son Guido, to honour her grand-father's works and to organise this exhibition in collaboration with the Municipality of Schio.

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

Though Romano Benazzi remains an unknown painter, his works remain confined to the homes of his family and friends, it is important that they were celebrated by his family and community.

Art by Romano Benazzi - Exhibition in Schio (VI), Italy, September 2025

 

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Sunday, 31 August 2025

Sareo 2025 Street Art Festival

Schio's annual street art festival "Sareo" was held in the last week of June 2025. During this festival, the artists living in and around Schio are invited to put up their recent works for display in Via Pasubio in the city centre.

The old name of Via Pasubio was Via Sareo, which explains the name of this festival, which goes back to almost fifty years - it was suspended during the Covid years. The image below shows a view of the street with the art works. (You can click on any of the images below for a bigger view)


I want to share some of the art-works from this year's festival, that I liked. Our response to creative works including art, poetry, books, is very subjective. Thus, I am sure that some of the works that I liked, may not seem special to you and you would have chosen completely different works.

I am very fond of water-colour landscapes but this year, I didn't find any such landscape which I found outstanding. However, I also like abstract compositions and there were a few this year, which I liked.

These artists-artworks are not in any particular order.

Winner of Sareo 2024 - Giannino Scorzato: A jury of artists chooses the best artist, winner of Sareo festivals. Last year's winner was Giannino Scorzato from Valdagno. This year,  a solo exhibition of his works was held at the Toaldi-Capra palazzo as a part of Sareo festival.

A self-taught artist, Scorzato is also a mountaineer. He had started with oil paintings, but now he expresses himself mainly in beautiful and amazingly detailed pencil sketches. You can see one of his works from this exhibition in the image below, a portrait of a young girl.


I thought that this landscape by Teresa Vallese captured very well the special light, the landscape and the sea of Mykonos island, with its white houses, with its predominent blue and white colours in a simple way.


I liked the next painting because of its palette of pale colours, the diaphanous-delicate look and the way the flowers and abstract designs foreground the female figure. It is by Antonia Bortoloso from Schio, who is known for her feminine portraits and figures. There were two of her works in this edition of Sareo and I liked both of them. 


The next work has Australian aboriginal masks in pointillism style by Raffaella Rigadello - it reminded me of Andy Warhol's pop-art posters because of their colours and graphics. A handwritten note fixed near the artwork, probably written by the artist, pointed about the subjugation of Aboriginal people in Australia by the European settlers.


Mari Baldisserotto's water-colour of a beautiful girl with blue eyes made me think of the photograph of the Afghan girl by Steve McCurry which was used as cover-pic for National Geographic in 1985. I liked its colour composition and the girl's expression.


I like the way Giuseppe (Beppe) Fochesato uses shafts of light in his interiors. He had a few works in the festival and the one I have chosen has an old portico, probably from an old church with a door at the end. I love its colours and atmosphere.


The next is a water-colour by Egidio Carotta and it has a flower-pot fixed to the wall next to a gate. The painting gets its charm from the contrast in the colours of the bricks of the house, where red bricks are used to create a visual impact and give a shape to the painting.


I also liked the delicate flowers in the water-colour painting by Emanuela MinĂ  from Schio. It had beautiful colours and composition. She also had another water-colour painting in the exhibition, but I liked this one more. 


The painting of a black galleon ship against an abstract background dominated by green colour, made me think of the film Pirates of the Caribbean and captain Jack Sparrow. I liked its dream like abstract effect. It is by Fabiola Carmelini.


Let me conclude by 3 works which I liked most in this year's Sareo. The first is an abstract composition by Luigi Bernardi. I would have preferred its lower part to be less definite and with paler colours, but still I found it intriguing.


The second is titled "Boy with a neckless" and is by Lorenzo Zanello. I liked its colours and the guy's expression. Every time I looked at it, it made me smile. It also reminds me of a guy I knew.


My favourite piece of art this year was this abstract work by Claudio dal PrĂ  from Chiuppano. I am not able to explain why I liked it but I loved its complex colours, hidden figures and its composition. I like art which pulls me in and I can spend a long time trying to understand why I like it.


Conclusions

I think that it is very difficult for an artist to create a completely distinctive style, so that as soon as you see it you can say that it is by that artist. This also means that when you see works that use that style, you can say that this artist is inspired by that one.

However, developing a distinct style can also become a prison - then people expect you to keep on repeating that style forever. In that sense, creating a style of abstract art is much better because it can give you more freedom as an artist.

Regarding the artists whose works I have presented in this post, I was surprised that only a few of them have a social media presence. I feel that many of them, especially those who have not sacrificed years of life in the pursuit of art and have done other works while keeping art as a passion for the weekends or retirement, feel shy of calling themselves as artists and talking about their art.

***** 

Thursday, 24 July 2025

Kimchi - Outsider's Gaze

Kimchi is a photo-exhibition on South Korea by Nadia Bagattin, which was held recently at Palazzo Toaldi Capra in Schio (Italy). The wide success of K-Pop, as well as, that of their TV serials, has created an international image and interest in South Korea. Nadia Bagattin's pictures in the Kimchi exhibition go behind that international image to look at the society, focusing especially on the contrasts between traditions and modernity.

Kimchi - a photo-exhibition by Nadia Bagattin, July 2025, Schio (VI), Italy

I always find it interesting to understand how the outsiders look at countries and cultures, compared to the insiders. However, I have never been to S. Korea and I am not much informed about it, so to complete this exercise I should also look at works of some Korean photographers.

You can click on all the images in this write-up for a bigger view.

A Brief Talk with Nadia Bagattin About Kimchi Photo-Exhibition

While visiting the exhibition, I had a brief talk with Nadia Bagattin about her pictures in this exhibition, which is presented here.

Nadia Bagattin - Kimchi - a photo-exhibition by Nadia Bagattin, July 2025, Schio (VI), ItalyQ:  You are a photographer for passion or professionally?

Nadia: For passion. I have studied multi-medial art at the Art Academy. I have been passionate about photography ever since I was a child and was gifted a camera.

Q: These days everyone clicks pictures everywhere, what is the meaning of being a photographer for you?

Nadia: My professor used to say that photographers are like painters, they paint with the light, to capture a moment, or an emotion. Everyone approaches it with their own ideas, so every photograph has a right to exist. Thus it does not matter, how many other pictures exist, for me it is a way to share my emotions from that moment.

Q: When you click pictures, what interests you more?

Nadia: I like to photograph persons, sometimes I am a very slow photographer. For example, if I arrive in a park, I would just sit there and look around for a long time, till there is Kimchi - a photo-exhibition by Nadia Bagattin, July 2025, Schio (VI), Italysomething which strikes me emotionally and only then I click its picture.

Q: This was your third journey to South Korea. When you look back, was there anything different this time in terms of your photography, compared to your earlier visits?

Nadia: It was a very different experience The first time, I had gone very casually as a tourist, to meet some friends who had invited me. I didn't have any specific expectations. I used to listen to South Korean music and watch films and I had a vague idea of what I was going to find there. Later, I became passionate about it, I studied its history, now I have a better idea of its people and culture.

The first exhibition I had about S. Korea was last year, it had a more of a tourist kind of pictures - beautiful places that looked like picture postcards so that persons could feel attracted to visit the country. 

This exhibition is more visceral, I wanted to discover both sides, good and ugly of Korea. Like every country, it also has both, and I love them both.

Q: There are some pictures in the exhibition that look at the traditions, at dresses, at religious iconography and rituals. There are others that look at city life, such as the images of plastic toys in different colours.

Nadia: Yes, that is the aim of this exhibition, it is about contrasts, the two sides of the coin. Thus there is "pali-pali" (Korean way of saying "hurry up") side of Korean culture, as well as, the more traditional meditative side linked to zen, respectful of the nature and culture. So if you have noted these two sides, this is exactly what I wanted to achieve.


Q: If you could choose three pictures from this exhibition, which represent a significant moment for you, which pictures would you select?

Nadia: Let me think.

Kimchi - a photo-exhibition by Nadia Bagattin, July 2025, Schio (VI), ItalyThe first picture that I would choose would be one of these children. It is from a city where they had few tourists. They were very surprised to see me in their city. They said "Hello" to me to show that they knew English.

The second can be the two elderly persons and their boat (left). They were retired persons and were doing volunteer work to clean the algae from this lake. When I was clicking this picture, the man became aware and he told me that both of them were very old but were still strong and active. I like these interactions with people.


The third would be that of the man making an offering to the turtle statue. The elderly man is making this offering underneath the turtle which represents the eternal life, it was his prayer for a long life.

Conclusions

So what does the choice of her three favourite images from the exhibition tells us about her as a photographer? I think that it denotes her attention and preference towards human-interaction. 

I love talking to artists and photographers to understand what motivates them to create. My exchange with Nadia Bagattin was short and yet interesting. You can also see some of her other pictures on her Instagram page.

I was struck by her description of photography as a painting with light. I had a somewhat similar idea when I had called my old photo-blog as "Chaya-Chitrakar" - the painter of shadows.

Kimchi exhibition can be visited at Palazzo Toaldi Capra in Schio till Sunday 27 July 2025.

Kimchi - a photo-exhibition by Nadia Bagattin, July 2025, Schio (VI), Italy

   

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Monday, 7 July 2025

Martini Art School Exhibition in Schio

Students of Schio's art school A. Martini, organise an annual art exhibition to present their works. This exhibition has hundreds of exhibits. This year I was able to visit it. It was wonderful to see Schio's familiar streets, buildings and monuments in their works.

This first image below is about some of the city streets and has art works by Fatima Sadkaoui, Eva dal Maistro and Giacomo Scarpati. (You can click on all the images in this post for a bigger view)


It is not possible to talk about all the works that I liked in this exhibition, I can only present a small selection of them. Who knows, one day one of these students will be a famous artist! This post is dedicated to all of them.

A. Martini Art School in Schio

The Martini art institute is part of the Tron-Zanella-Martini high schools. It has a 5 years course for art students including 2 years of general study which is common to all the students, followed by 3 years of specialised studies in 2 areas - figurative arts and architecture.

Many years ago, this art school had an evening course and I know some local artists who had done that. I wish they would again conduct an evening school or may be have an art course for elderly people - I would also like to join it.

Let me now show you some of the art works from the 2025 exhibition. They are no particular order. All the students in the art school learn about and work with all the different figurative art forms including designing, sketching, painting, graphics, sculpture etc. 

Some Sculptures

Some years ago, I had seen some computer made sculptures from 3D printers. Since they were made of resins, I had mixed feelings about them. I am sure that in future, a mix of CNC and 3D printing will make more human-made kind of sculptures but I am sure that good sculptor will always have a value.

The two sculptures on the sides in the image below are by Tommaso Guadagnin & Anita Peruzzo.


Perspectives

I liked the works using a kind of binocular effect in the drawings to show a different perspective of their subjects. The three works presented below are by Sofia Damoc, Andrea Busato & Angelica Guido.


Ex-Lanificio Conte

This art exhibition was held in SHED hall of the old Conte wool mill (ex-lanificio Conte). There were different art works of this building. The image below presents three of them - all the three have the building as seen from the Conte Square, through the artists' locations and colours are different. It has the art-works of  Alessandra Peron, Elisabeth Salin & Sofia Rapagnani.


City Landmarks

There were many art-works about the city landmarks. The two images below present some of them.

The first one has the Rossi monument and St Anthony church by Benedetta Valente, the civic theatre building by Agnese Gasparella & the Salesian sports' complex by Aurora dal Pezzo.


The second one has the works of different students including the Duomo church in the centre by Mariem Fatou.


Sketches and Graphic Designs

The image below has sketches and graphic designs by different students.


Self Portraits

To conclude this highlights-view of the exhibition here are some of the self-portraits based specific themes like water, air, etc. I liked this idea of the students imagining themselves as mythological or cosplay figures. (You can click on each image for a bigger view).


In Conclusion

It is not easy to be an independent artist and earn a decent living from it. Thus, I think that many of the students will probably end up doing some other day-time work and continue being an artist in their free times and week-ends, till some of them will find success and recognition.

Apart from the challenges of finding work related to art in today's world, I think that in future, in the kind of world that is coming, having a connection with art will be very important for the human experience. Whatever they will do in their lives, hopefully making and appreciating art will continue to enrich them.

So, best of luck to all the art students of Schio graduating this year.

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Monday, 13 January 2025

"Still Life" Art Exhibition Schio 2024

During Nov.-Dec. 2024, the Schio artists' group organised its annual exhibition. The theme for this year was "Still Life". The Italian word for "still life" is "Natura Morta" (dead nature), which I think that describes the subject better than the English version. Somehow, the words "still life" make me think of the game "statue", in which you are supposed to stand still like a statue.

Here are a few works from this exhibition that I liked. Click on the images for a bigger view.

Giuseppe Fochesato

I really liked this more contemporary interpretation of the theme by Giuseppe Fochesato, two paintings with a limited palette of colours, giving impression of the early morning on an autumn day and the coffee cups waiting for the persons to wake up and to begin the day.

His Facebook page has some other examples of his work in the same style - washed out colours and light beams illuminating the spaces. You can also check some of his works on his blog.

Daniela Baroni

Daniela had only one work in the exhibition, a painting with two dried sunflowers and a dead robin. The sombre theme of the painting clashes with the bright red feathers on robin's breast and, the purples, greens and the pale yellows of the background.

Gianbattista Clementi

Clementi had two artworks in the exhibition. While one was the classical still-life painting with a flower vase and autumn berries, the other was more abstract and I spent some time looking at it. With winter trees, a small cup and some drying leaves which look like dying fish, I found it more unsettling. 

Antonio Capovilla

I am a great fan of Antonio's long-limbed clay statues. I was surprised to see his two artworks in the exhibition, because I had no idea that he made that kind of work. However, he informed that he makes all kinds of art, from sculptures to mixed material collages and oil paintings.

I know that Antonio's wife is a poet and I told him that I would like to interview both of them together to learn about their reciprocal influences.

His two works in this exhibition included a collage of dried leaves from his garden against a white resin background and a composition made from different kinds of leathers in which he made swirling-holes to create geometric patterns.

You can check Antonio's Instagram page and Facebook page to see his other works, including his beautiful sculptures.

Livio Comparin

Livio had only one work in the exhibition but it is beautiful, though I am not sure if it can be called "still life" because it includes a sparrow and a dragonfly, which are attracted by the ripe fruits - black and white grapes, plumpy peaches, a few fat plums and some autumn-tinted vine-leaves. Just looking at the painting, makes me feel hungry. I think that it will be a good painting to have in the kitchen or next to our dining table.

Livio is a well-known artist of Schio, he has been active over the past 6 decades with water colours, graphics and even comics.

Lanfranco Dalle Carbonare

Lanfranco had 2 classical compositions of still life in the exhibition, one with flowers and the second with a mix fruits, dominated by a green-striped melon. I like his straight forward compositions, almost minimalist with plain backgrounds. You can check his Facebook page for some more examples of his works.

Moreno Dalla Vecchia

Moreno is the president of the Schio's association of artists. I have already written about Moreno's artistic journey in this blog.

In this exhibition, he had two watercolours, one predominant in blue and the other in yellow-orange. He has experimented with his compositions as well, one has an old lamp and a colourful flower-vase, while the other is focused around a piece of pumpkin, both are beautiful.

Lucio Mantese

Lucio is a wonderful artist. In this exhibition he had 2 works - one a beautiful copy of a famous still-life painting of a fruit-basket by Caravaggio. The second work was a wonderful composition of corn-cobs, old drying apples, a pulley and a bucket. I love the way he is able to bring alive the corn-cobs and the metallic texture of the bucket and the ladle (click on the image for a bigger view to appreciate this).

Apart from being a wonderful painter, able to copy famous painters, Lucio also teaches ballroom dancing (Liscio). You can check some of his other works on his Facebook page.

Mauro Marzari

The last artist that I have chosen is another person, Mauro Marzari, about which I have already written on this blog. Mauro makes wonderful abstract works. His two works in this exhibition have a yellow-metallic finish with rectangles presenting a still-life object - an apple in one and a skeleton in another. Both the paintings give an idea of brooding sadness, as if commenting on the short lives of their subjects.

Conclusions

It is wonderful that our tiny little town of Schio in the foothills of Alps in the north-east of Italy, has so many opportunities related to art and culture. This has given me the possibility of talking to some of them and to learn about their artistic journeys, which is a great privilege.

*****

Friday, 3 January 2025

Mutations Art Exhibition Schio 2024

Our tiny town of Schio in the north-east of Italy has an active art & culture scene. One of the annual events is the Mutations (Mutazioni) exhibition, held usually around the end of the year, held recently from 30 Nov. to 29 Dec. 2024 at Spazio Shed in the city centre.

I want to present 12 artists whose works I liked. I start with 4 sculptures and installations, and follow them by 8 paintings. Click on the pictures for a bigger view.

1. Sculpture by Paolo Ceola: It had a white jacket standing up in the air and asking "Where is the man?" Made of ceramic and oxide combination, it had a shining smooth finish.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Paolo Ceola

With this sculpture, Paolo expresses his fear that we humans are losing our identity.

He defines himself as a experimenter and researcher, looking for innovation, and working with different art-languages including photography, painting, sculpture, videos and films. You can check Paolo Ceola's other works on his Instagram page.

2. The Playful Installations of Roberto Marconato: There were two installations by Roberto in the exhibition. Both had the bust of a young woman, both with headphones listening to music, one in a pink t-shirt placed over a tower of balls and books, and the other with a pink knitted cap, connected to her computer-monitor by a cord.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Roberto Marconato

The installations seem to be talking about a future world, which is partially already there in our lives, where our work and free-time lives, both revolve around technology and even our human relations are mediated by it.

Roberto is a self-taught artist and he defines his art as "surrealistic", with a preference of using recycled materials in his works. You check his other works at his Instagram page.

3. The Colourful & Playful Animal Sculptures of Giorgio Nalon:  Giorgio's animals seem straight out of mythologies and fairy-tales with bright colours. There was a cut head of a zebra resting over a Rubik's cube, vaguely similar to the bronze horse-head sculpture by Nic Fiddian-Green at Mable Arch in London, also reminds me of Mario Puzo's Godfather where the horse-breeder wakes up with the bloody head of his favourite horse in his bed.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Giorgio Nalon

Then there was a colourful chameleon, again clutching a Rubik's cube in his front legs. Finally there was a blue frog with a crown on his head, the frog-prince, waiting for someone to kiss him. You can check his Facebook page to see his works of art.

4. The Ceramic Dress by Daria Tasca & Vania Sartori: I was intrigued by this installation Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Daria Tasca & Vania Sartoricreated jointly by 2 women artists - a fashion designer and a ceramic-maker.

It had a cream-coloured dress in silk-twill with a front-armour similar to a bullet-vest made of ceramic, out of which shining golden plates come out to surround the neck, while the hands-gloves have blue Sardinian wool gathering in 2 ceramic cups near the feet.

Daria started as a fashion designer and has been experimenting with painting on clothe, mixed techniques with photography and painting, and frescoes on wood. 

While, Vania studied to be an architect and then started to work in her family's ceramic workshop. To see their other works, you can check the facebook page of Daria and Vania.

After the sculptures and installations, lets now move to the works of painters.

5. The Pentatych by Luciano Gasparin: Luciano had put together five canvasses to create a combined rectangle, dominated by shades of reds.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Luciano Gasparin

His work was titled La Vita, the life, and had a quote by Seneca, saying, "No one would give you back years, no one would give you back to you; the time of your life will pass on the path you have undertaken and would never come back or to stop passing ..."

The painting combined a few figures - a head, a photograph and a church, while the remaining spaces were filled by abstract colours. It touched me deeply and I spent a long time standing there to look at it. You check his Instagram page to look at his other works.

6. The Immense Blue Ocean of Salvatore D'Oria: Salvatore is originally from Reggio Calabria in south Italy. His initial work was with oil paintings. In the recent years, he has starting doing more work with acrylic colours, which he uses to express motion and movement.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Salvatore D'Oria

His painting in this exhibition was titled L'Immenso, the Immensity. The blue and whites of this work expressed communications and how the modernity with rushing time takes away our individuality and identity.

7. Suspended Horizons by Paolo Pallara: Paolo had 2 canvasses in the exhibition, both titled "Suspended Horizons", one of which is presented here.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Paolo Pallara

He uses acrylics, tar, oil-pastels and ash to create the dirty yellow backgrounds with a tiny black sun and dark splotches of the horizon, from which black threads reach downwards. He describes these as, "In these suspended horizons, the becoming of days becomes the space where you find refuge ..."

The two paintings make me think of our polluted towns, as the evening falls and the skies turn yellow, both ugly and beautiful, at the same time.

You can check Paolo's Instagram page to look at his other works.

8. Urban Landscape of Claudio dal Pra: Claudio's landscape was located in Chiuppano, a tiny mountain town, not very far from Schio. It was an urban landscape, located clearly at the fringes of the rural-natural and is made ethereal by shades of yellow, old medieval buildings, and a complete contrast to Paolo Pallara's canvas-world above.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Claudio Dal Pra

In fact, Claudio's colours were lighter and brighter, his buildings seemed wrapped in the mountain mist, almost a dreamland.

You can check Claudio's Facebook page for his other works.

These two artists, Paolo Pallara & Claudio dal Pra, made me think about the aesthetic pleasures of the two completely contrasting styles, and how we can appreciate beauty in so many diverse forms.

9. The Masked Animal by Sergio Polli: Sergio had a gothic looking canvas in the exhibition, with dark colours and a portrait of someone with a hybrid animal face - the face looks like that of a horse, but it also has two big horns - perhaps it is a male deer?

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Sergio Polli

Animal masks have been used by the shamans of ancient people, they represent the capacity to visit the spirit worlds and to talk to the spirits. At first glance, Sergio's work looks like that. However, he has titled it the "masked animal", thus, it is an animal with a mask, probably referring to the animal instincts of certain persons who wear masks to seem civilised?

Sergio had recycled the wood from that used for making boxes, to make his canvas for this painting. His Instagram page defines his work as "recycling for painting, painting for recycling" and likes to use his art to express things for which there are no words.

You also check Sergio's Facebook page to see his other works.

10. AI Art of Annabella Dugo: Annabella had the prints of two very striking works, one titled "Meditation" and the other, "Sin of lust". These have been made with the help of AI.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Annabella Dugo

At one level, it was impossible, not to be fascinated by the two works, for their surrealistic hyperrealism and their choice of subjects & colours. At another, it raised the question about manual artistic skills.

I think that in the past, artists needed to have both, imagination and manual skills to create art. But with AI, it combines imagination with software skills, while the manual skills become unimportant. How is that going to influence our ideas about art? Annabella is a renowned and award-winning artist from Naples, so she has manual artistic skills, yet here she chose to use AI to create these works. How does that affect our views about her art?

You can check Annabella's Instagram page to look at her other works.

11. Painted Glass Works of Loria Orsato: Loria, based in Vicenza, uses glass in her works. In the two works presented in Mutations 2024, she had hand-painted glass on canvas to represent the "Family of long-necked queens".

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Loria Orsato

North-east of Italy, including the famous Murano island in Venice, are known for their glass related works and workshops. Perhaps Loria is a part of this tradition. She defines herself as an art designer and colour-researcher, and she hand-paints on glass.

At the same time, over the past decade, she has been active in dance-therapy, the Dancing Hands, inspired by the works of Argentine dancer Maria Fux. I had heard of Maria Fux from my friend Pio Campo and once gone with him to see him use dance-therapy for persons with mental health problems in Goias, Brazil. I feel that this combination of artist and dance-therapy, makes for an interesting person.

You can check Loria's Facebook page and her Instagram page to see more examplesof her works.

12. The Contrasts in Paintings of Daniela Toniolo: The 12th and last artists for this post is Daniela with 2 acrylic on canvas paintings titled "Rebirth" and "Opposites".

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Daniela Toniolo

Against a background of grey and purple, the two artworks had geometric spaces, like floating windows and glasses, which seemed to be reflecting into each other, making me feel as if I was getting lost inside a mirror room, which reminded me of the final scenes of Bruce Lee's film "Enter the Dragon".

Daniela is from Schio. About her works, she says, "It can be defined as fluid-ordered, with inexistent brush-strokes, highlighting the diluted and transparent colours, with counterpoints of bright white ..." You can check her work on Instagram.

Conclusions

I felt that this year, Mutations exhibition had fewer sculptures and installations, and fewer works with a strong visual-aesthetic impact.

Mutations-Mutazioni Art Exhibition, Schio, Dec. 2024 - Artwork by Eva Trentin

Let me conclude this post with a close-up image of cubes titled "Eva's Garden" by my friend Eva Trentin from the Mutations exhibition. Eva makes beautiful works by bringing together nature and its organic imprints on different surfaces. Her works are like labyrinths, the more minutely you look at them, the more facets you can discover. You can check more of her works on her Instagram page.

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