Born in Naples in 1981, the Italian artist Falena creates art that some might categorise as urban or grunge in terms of its appearance. But what is infinitely more interesting is the conceptual strength of the work when it grapples with the frenetic pace of society, information overload and our decadent mass consumption.
my work is an emotional container where you can find memories, fears, and socio-political messaging.
The artist appropriates symbols of our age much the same way as hip hop artist once began to sample music. He does so by using deliberately contrasting image-making techniques, contrasting colours and contrasting messages all of which add up to a bombardment of our senses.
As a genre, this potent stuff is as much mixed media as the word ‘mixed’ suggests. What is more, the canvases are showing the verso at times. Characteristically, those pieces have not received a coat of gesso on the linen but have rather been primed with an assemblage of carefully selected newspaper cuttings. The whole act invites us to conclude we are privy to the opposite side of the coin and what really goes on in society. Not to mention, what goes on in the deep recesses of the artist’s mind as a type of synthesis of the conscious and the subconscious.
You can find more information about the artist by visiting his official website: www.flaviofalena.com
Image credits
All images by courtesy of the artist, © Flavio Falena, all rights reserved.
