PAOLO ZERO-T CAPEZZUOLI, The price we pay for Lunacy

PAOLO ZERO-T CAPEZZUOLI

The price we pay for Lunacy

Opening Thursday, November 30, 2023

Until January 27, 2024

Galleria Patricia Armocida is pleased to present The price we pay for Lunacy, a solo exhibition by Paolo Zero-T Capezzuoli opening on Thursday, November 30, 2023.

The exhibition will include 11 photographs, 8 ceramic sculptures, 3 silver rings, 5 imprints on wood, 4 tempera paintings on paper and fabric.

In his essay Tradition and the Individual Talent, T.S. Eliot writes: “The more perfect the artist, the more completely separate in him will be the man who suffers and the mind which creates; the more perfectly will the mind digest and transmute the passions which are its material.”

Just as an oyster creates a pearl due to the irritation from a grain of sand, creative expressions don’t always arise from good experiences. Lunacy is the “flaw” the artist embraces in order to create.

“In the reality we see, there’s always a hidden side and the dark side isn’t always necessarily negative”, states Zero-T.

This thought gave life to his ceramic creations which force viewers to go beyond the surface. In order to fully understand each sculpture, you must move and interact with them; the forms shift depending on your point of observation.

They are units created from the balancing act between opposites: positive/negative, full/empty, and each side contains a bit of the other.

The sculptures in white ceramic, iron oxide, clay, and scratches inspired by rock carvings, require various phases of preparation.

“There’s an unexpected side to kilning ceramics, the chemical reaction that takes place during the various phases cannot fully be controlled. Time, in the kiln, changes things and much like with real life, chance contributes to the final outcome.”

Unpredictability is the characteristic that Paolo explores also with Polaroids. Light affects the snapshots and alters the colors, the outcome is unpredictable.  

During his travels, Zero-T often utilizes this photographic technique to capture information: deriving patterns, volumes, geometric figures, and compositions, and at times auras and color palettes he then uses in his gouaches and in his works.

On the bottom border of the Polaroids, he often jots down ideas and insights regarding his creative process, which links all of his works together.

These snapshots are then photographed by a large format view camera, enhancing the visual impact, highlighting details and flaws that were previously imperceptible as a decisive part of the composition. This leads to a new perception of the subject, an interpretation that is more profound on various levels.

The use of light and geometrization migrate constantly in Zero-T’s heterogeneous yet contiguous artistic output.

The theme of light/darkness - movement/stillness is also visible in Paolo’s use of darkroom imprinting in order to transfer his drawings onto multi-layer boards treated with silver gelatin emulsion.

Imprinting is rather similar to the way we remember our experiences: through light we capture information that is projected and burned into our minds.

Visual notes, connections, and insights are jotted into Paolo’s black books, the carnets de voyage the artist always carries with him. The creation process, Zero-T’s stylistic hallmark, takes on an importance equal to the final work.

For this exhibition, snippets of his projects are gathered into an unpublished book: a visual reference atlas that contains fragments, graphic notes, sketches, connections and inspirations, ideas and visions that the artist developed in regards to the concept of the show.

Viewers can retrace the stages of the creation of the artworks on display and thus gain a tangible understanding in order to better grasp Zero-T’s complex artistic universe.