The Sicilian artist who revisits superheroes between pop spirit and folk references on display until January 25, 2020 at the Hysteria Art gallery
Domenico Pellegrino, a Sicilian artist born a painter and set designer, in 2010 after four years of gestation, gave life to the Supereroi collection.
A gallery of superheroes, revisited and corrected according to a singular interlocking between pop spirit and folk references, in which the artist Domenico Pellegrino reinvents some well-known comic book characters by making them life-size characters, colorful stage presences that have fallen by surprise into a present time that becomes the scene of a bizarre fantasy invasion.
The Incredible Hulk, Spiderman, Captain America, Catwoman and Batman come out of comic strips to transform themselves into three-dimensional objects with a strong visual impact. They would almost seem faithful reproductions of the originals, true copies of those unforgettable favorites, which have accompanied the fantasies of adults and children: Domenico Pellegrino’s hyperrealism, however, hides some misleading details, disturbing elements that betray the reference image.
Decorative grafts, borrowed from traditional Sicilian cart painting, appear on the skin of the characters, changing their appearance and qualifying as revealing clues of meaning. Made according to artisanal techniques handed down from generation to generation, the polychrome structures – almost classic in intention, despite the popular and playful theme – follow certain accents typical of Palermo, certain character or cultural connotations pertaining to the territory of reference.
In the iconographic details, in the decorative grafts, in some features deliberately exasperated or revised, Pellegrino’s superheroes become warriors or saviors of a real present full of dangers and pitfalls: an ironic updated transposition of that world of paper, plastic or celluloid from which our heroes were born.
EXHIBITION INFO:
When: 5 December 2019 – 25 January 2020
Vernissage: 5 December 2019 from 7.00 pm to 9.30 pm
Where: Hysteria Art Gallery – Via A. Cappellini, 20 (MI)
INFO/PHOTO COURTESY: Hysteria Art Gallery
Chiara Mattavelli
