IAGA Contemporary Art dedicates a new solo exhibition to the artist Marcello De Angelis, curated by Ilaria Bignotti. The exhibition, entitled “Ask the Skin”, proposes a selection of recent works made with the new technique that De Angelis has been working on for several years, namely “Mould Painting”.

The opening of the “Ask the Skin” exhibition will take place on Thursday, June 22, from 6 p.m. at IAGA Contemporary Art (Strada Cloşca no. 9-11, Cluj-Napoca, Romania).

The mold painting technique consists in “making paintings obtained by using expanded polyethylene plates, which become real “molds” with the help of which the acrylic is stretched and layered on the surface of the canvas, obtaining molds full of material memory, monochrome backgrounds that vibrate according to by the light source projected on the respective work.

A slow and very delicate process that opens even randomly is understood as a possibility given the lack of total control that De Angelis can exercise during the imprinting, thus, the artist experiences, slowly, day by day, what happens in this processing of the color that is arranged on the surface “printed” by already existing surfaces, chosen based on the texture that characterizes them and which will thus be transposed into the pictorial field.

The process of making is also slow: the artist allows a lot of chromatic levels to layer and solidifies on the support, checking how the incidence of light causes the color to fade differently on the canvas. He draws elaborate designs in advance to anticipate how the compositional parts will be arranged, from the arrangement of colors to the tracing of marks that frame and cross the painting, he numbers the various elements that make up his diptychs and polyptychs, given that the rhythmic score is another fundamental aspect of De Angelis’ works.” Ilaria Bignotti

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog containing all the exhibited works.

The exhibition can be visited for free until July 29, 2023, from Tuesday to Saturday, between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., and by appointment.

Marcello DE ANGELIS
Marcello De Angelis (b. 1977, Villafranca) lives and works in Villafranca di Verona. He obtained his master’s degree in industrial design at the Politecnico di Milano.
Since 2001, he has been developing his painting technique, called “Injection Painting”, which consists in creating paintings by using an injection syringe. His artistic research aims to highlight the pictorial matter in a logical and rational order, a metaphor for the passage of time.
He developed several cycles while maintaining the technical-pictorial process. Over the years, his artistic research has found expression in various sectors of the visual arts and has expanded into sculpture, artist books, mail art, and installations.
In 2017, he started experimenting with “Mould Painting”, a technique that consists in taking pictures of “molds” using expanded polyethylene plates. Through this process, he creates monochrome backgrounds that vibrate depending on the light source.
Recent exhibitions include BOCCONI ART GALLERY, Campus Bocconi (2022); TIME FRAME, Palazzo Libera di Villa Lagarina Trento (2020); I PROGETTI DELLA NATURA, at the National Archaeological Museum of Mantua (2018).

Ilaria BIGNOTTI
Born in Brescia in January 1979, Ilaria Bignotti is a Doctor in Theory and Art History, an independent curator, and an art critic.
She is part of the Curatorial Committee of ArteJeans, a project aimed at contemporary arts to establish a Jeans museum archive in Genoa (starting 2020 – ongoing). She is on the Scientific Committee of the MoRE Museum, a museum of rejected and unrealized art projects (as of 2011 – ongoing).
She is a specialist in the history of modern and contemporary art (19th, 20th, and 21st centuries) for the new five-year “Dell’Arte” course of the Deagostini School for secondary schools and universities, signed by Ernesto Luciano Francalanci (first edition 2021).
From 2003 to the present she conceived, organized, and curated international exhibition projects working for long periods and continuously with museums, institutions, and foundations in Italy and abroad.
She is a professor at Italian and international universities.
She is an appraiser in modern and contemporary art for the Court of Brescia.
From 2003 to today, she has published over a hundred books, including catalogs of modern and contemporary art on the occasion of curated exhibitions, she has written several essays and contributions to scientific monographs and resoinee catalogs.

IAGA Contemporary Art
The IAGA Contemporary Art gallery was founded in 2014 by Alberto Perobelli, entrepreneur and collector of modern and contemporary art. From 2014 until now, the gallery has had an intense activity coordinated by Rosalba Di Pierro, the gallery manager.
The gallery organizes six exhibitions annually and is present at art fairs in the countries of North-Eastern Europe, including art fairs in Italy.