Francesca Antonini Arte Contemporanea is pleased to present L'animale più silenzioso del mondo, the first solo show by Francesco Casati (Verona, 1990) at the gallery. The project includes a selection of paintings that embraces the main themes of his research.
The artist uses painting to create an imagery suspended between reality and fiction. He ironically investigates issues deeply connected to the dynamics that govern our society and interpersonal relationships. There is a microcosm in each of the works, but there is something that makes them belong to a shared macrocosm. A larger show, the life, an allegory: a comedy of sharing, where, however, the intensity of each character is such that it can be analysed in depth, celebrated and presented independently.
These are not mere extras but protagonists, mini visual biographies that make up the history of a common period. Little big stories that are part of a single jigsaw puzzle, without taking strength away from the single theatrical element. These protagonists, subjects-objects, do not exist in a defined timeline, but in a time of their own: they are words within a collective poem, they exist to tell us that time is there and passes, they go along with a movement that comes out of figuration by playing with evocative images. An inseparable link is established between reasoning, narration and deprivation, aimed at making people read something more than the surface.
The uncertainty, conveyed by the absence of solid bases on which these figures stand, for Francesco Casati is necessary in order to avoid fixed points that can only limit the gaze. They float not to affirm something but rather to show a question and leave possibilities. They provide themes, situations and arrows thrown. They allow time, for the artist as well as the viewer, to elaborate. It is a responsibility assumed by the subjects in the paintings and through them by Casati, for whom it is essential not to have too many certainties and not to close too many doors, but leave them ajar.
Francesco Casati was born in Verona in 1990; he currently lives and works in Venice. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Among the personal shows: Il Circo del Gitano, Libreria Minerva, Padova (2022); Omnia Vanitas, Palazzo della Provvederia, Mestre (2021). Among the group shows: Out. Oltre l’umano tabù, Officine Brandimarte, Ascoli Piceno (2023); Un lustro di vincitori del premio Mestre di Pittura, Palazzetto Tito, Dorsoduro, Venezia (2022); Extrartis, Art Days-Napoli Campania, Relais La Rupe, Sorrento (2022); Extra Ordinario Workshop III, Vulcano Agency, Vega, Venezia Marghera (2022); Venice Time Case, Terza Tappa, NP-ArtLab, Padova (2022); Nelle selve non più belve, spazio Vulcano, Vega, Venezia Marghera (2022); Venice Time Case, Seconda Tappa, Galerie Italiane, Parigi (2022); Venice Time Case, Galleria Tommaso Calabro, Milano (2021); “Preferirei di no”, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venezia (2021); Vetrine accese. Gli artisti degli atelier in Piazza San Marco, Vetrine della Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venezia (2021); 103ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Galleria di Piazza San Marco, Venezia (2020); Our Streets And Water, Project Space, University of Westminster, London (2018). Prizes: Prisma Art Prize, 2nd prize, 9th edition (2022); Premio Mestre di Pittura, 2nd prize (2021); Combat Prize, 1st prize painting section (2021).