Le grand rappel de l'aiguille du roc
From the Andes to the summits of Chamonix, Salvatore Arancio revisits scientific imagery through the prism of a poetic and visionary interpretation of nature. Inspired by the illustrations of nineteenth-century geological studies, the artist extracts and digitally manipulates various found images in black-and-white to create landscapes in a romantic vein reminiscent of the paintings of the German artist Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840). These epic and sublime visions question the notions of order and chaos while suggesting man’s impotence in the face of nature. In these reflections on natural phenomena and the mineral world, Arancio establishes a strange but coherent geography from which humans are almost totally absent. At once evocative and disturbing, these images disrupt the familiarity of the viewer’s experience to propose an unknown and grandiose setting populated by shadows and rocks.
Text written by Oriane Poret as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.
Exhibitions
Spacex, Exeter (Royaume-Uni)
from 01 Oct to 26 Nov 2011
Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome (Italie)
from 18 Feb to 31 Mar 2011