One of the most promising young Italian artists
To describe Nicolò Tomaini (Lecco, 1989) means to start from two simple but indispensable premises: the first concerns him directly, considered by many insiders as a real talent, among the most interesting profiles on the Italian art scene; the second, reflects on the apparent superficiality of his work but which is in truth a fierce criticism of the exploitation of culture, beauty and art that succumbs day after day to technology and its systems as well as to the shortcomings of the very society that contributes to this development. Nicolò deliberately covers works of art from the distinguished past (XVII-XIX centuries), with an acknowledged value but that are not always recognizable through
the strategy of the physical tear on the packaging, the computer glitch, the pictorial tear, the failed download, recreated pictorially, artistically and analogically in order to sensitize the user to the real addiction to which he is constantly subject. This addiction is generated by the unfortunate illusion of possessing time and, as a consequence of our era, by the increasing rapidity with which we demand and
HE DELIBERATELY COVERED ARTWORKS FROM THE 17TH, THE 18TH
AND THE 19TH CENTURIES ON WHICH HE PAINTS OVER REPRODUCTIONS
OF UPLOADING IMAGES FROM THE INTERNET
This addiction is generated by the unfortunate illusion of possessing time and, as a consequence of our era, by the increasing rapidity with which we demand and assimilate pseudo-news: a constant bombardment of input and premature and uncontrolled gratification that has no real object of reference and that, like all addictions, feeds the pressing need to satisfy a senseless obsession. To all this, Tomaini adds that general sense of frustration, of impatience, of neurotic frenzy due precisely to the discordance which exists between time, desire and the object of desire: in fact he does not erase images but prevents them from being complete. And not to declare war on a contemporary art now considered obsolete by many, but to address directly the source of all judgment, that human being who no longer knows how to imagine and perhaps not even to create.
HIS IS A FIERCE CRITICISM OF HOW ART IS USED TODAY
If, in fact, it is now information that creates the object (art included) and not the other way around, it is also true that the crisis cannot be in art but in the man who produces it or who, in theory, should be protecting it. Francis Bacon, A Study for a Portrait, his latest work emerges from these reflections, (Editor’s note: on the other cover of this issue) and is inspired by the confusing and absurd state of affairs that occurs when a work of art (or rather, its graphic representation, its image) finds itself caught in the snares of the SIAE, which, instead of safeguarding the interests of the artist, prevents to all intents and purposes his primary objective, which is to have his work seen.
So the picture no longer exists, and so let them all be like that: always just black screens. Nothing else.
THE LAST PIECE WAS COVERED OVER BECAUSE OF THE SIAE
HIS LIFE
Nicolò Tomaini attended Liceo Scientifico “Alessandro Volta” in Lecco and then the Faculty of Literature at the University of Bergamo. He lives and works in Lecco and approaches the world of contemporary art as a self-taught artist, producing his first works in 2009. A multifaceted artist who is attentive to issues related to art and communication, he has just published his first monograph “_user name:/Nicolò Tomaini” published by Altedo of Bologna and enriched by contributions from Alessandro Baggi, Filippo Mollea Ceirano, Matteo Galbiati; a single volume that contains his first fourteen years of production, including reflections, photo installations and individual works analyzed from a conceptual and documentary point of view. His current exhibit with Tano Festa at the Rocca Contemporary Art Centre in Umbertide entitled “Windows on Evil,”
runs until the 2nd of October. Another exhibition,”Rette incidenti” with Tino Stefanoni is currently at the Melesi Gallery in Lecco until the 22nd of October.
