Alex Urso: “Impossible Nature”
12 March-29 May 2016
Alex Urso has always been attracted to the emotional power of objects. For the artist, “things” are heralds of poetry, full of unbridled aesthetic power, able to tell infinite stories. Found in the remotest parts of the city, those elements are knick-knacks without value, but through Urso’s eyes they become independent entities. Extracted from reality, those objects are taken away from their daily life and reintegrated by the artist in a new context, with the aim of giving birth to new and unexpected narratives.
For the first time in Italy, Spazio Meme presents twenty assemblages from Urso’s “Impossible Nature” series. The artist has been working on the project since 2014, carrying out research on the old dynamics that have always existed between art and nature. The work was originally conceived as a tribute to Joseph Cornell, a pioneer in assemblage techniques and an avatar of American Surrealism. Since Urso started his research, it has developed in a more reflective direction, focusing on the existing dynamics between nature and the fictional world of images.
The assemblages presented are a combination of birds taken from old natural history books and objects from daily life. Those elements are transported together into a poetic context where natural elements and artificial waste coexist. These little theaters enchant the viewer with their technical meticulousness and compositional balance, becoming an invitation to gaze inside to look for a deeper meaning.
Alex Urso works predominantly in collage and assemblage. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Literature and Philosophy and an MFA (honours) in Painting from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. He lives and works as an artist and independent curator in Warsaw.
The exhibition was curated by Francesca Pergreffi.
(adapted from the gallery’s press materials)
INFORMATION
Spazio Meme
via Giordano Bruno 4
41012 Carpi, Modena, Italy
+39 339 594 9429
Hours:
Saturday-Sunday, 10AM-1PM and 2PM-8PM
or by appointment
Image:
Non toccare desiderio (detail)
by Alex Urso
9″x14″x6″
assemblage
2015
Courtesy of the artist and Spazio Meme, Carpi