Eight Autumns is the first personal exhibition of the artist Francesco Fossati at the IAGA Contemporary Art in Cluj-Napoca.
The exhibition, curated by Camilla Remondina, wants to be “a moment of synthesis and restitution of the Organic Pictures series, started eight years ago. These are works on canvas, made using the eco print technique: through a boiling process, the plant element – be it a leaf, a root, a vegetable or a berry – releases its pigments so that it permanently prints on canvas form, ribs and details, sometimes decisive, other times more nuanced and more ephemeral. The organic material, therefore, is not used by the artist as a kind of stamp on which to apply color, but becomes the only pictorial support.
The result is a series of compositions with mostly symmetrical patterns, obtained from the folds of the fabric required for immersion in water during the printing process, and geometric abstractions only apparently in contrast to the harmonious forms of Nature: this coexistence, in fact, ideally embodies the proportions, the balance of the golden section that regulates all elements.
In Fossati’s work, ecological printing is not only limited to the way of execution, but also reflects this principle in the choice of materials, such as cotton and linen, including when the raw material is chosen, so as not to interrupt the life cycle of the this one. The elements used are exclusively harvested almost before drying, sometimes even from the ground, to preserve the sap inside them. In addition, they come from organic cultivation, closely followed by the artist himself or from the streets and abandoned places in the city, where he makes trips in search of plants […]
For the success of the composition, careful guidance from the artist is necessary. Still, despite this, he considers himself to have a marginal role in the production, because he recognizes the gift and “magic” of Nature that knows how to transform into art and is herself an artwork. The same magic that occurs when unfolding, when the canvas is revealed, when with surprise one discovers and examines the different shades of color and details, some of them uncontrollable and unpredictable, permanently imprinted. Adding to this wonder is the wonder of how a plant can imprint a mark on canvas and release colors unimaginable from how it occurs in nature. The roles are therefore reversed: Nature is the conscious author, the origin and the result, while Fossati becomes the instrument, or perhaps the means, of such an artistic operation.” – Camilla Remondina.
Francesco Fossati (1985, Carate Brianza, Italy) is a visual artist and wild plant collector.
His research focuses on respect for nature and environmental sustainability, making works
with the least possible impact. He created ecological gardens, produced pigments using natural substances, and involved the community in the creation of works of public art.
Designs and builds supports and frames in collaboration with ecological design studios using raw materials from controlled or FSC certified sources. In recent years, he initiated an ecological art library at the Port Museum in Tricase (LE), participated in the Solstice exhibition, curated by the artist Judy Chicago at the Turner Carrol Gallery in Santa Fe (NM) as part of the Create Art for Earth project, launched by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Judy Chicago and Jane Fonda.
