GREENIT
SIMONE CAMETTI

OPENING 18 FEBBRAIO 2016
FINO Al 2 APRILE 2016

Francesca Antonini Arte Contemporanea is pleased to present Greenit, the second solo show of Simone Cametti (Rome, 1982) in the gallery’s premises, curated by Claudio Libero Pisano.

The venue, completely transformed by a site specific intervention, will host a new series of large format photographs, videos and installations, the result of a study on landscape that keeps the physical intervention on space as its main focus. Just as in the past he has coated precious marbles with car paint or made a boardgame out of animal bones, the artist now manipulates a portion of landscape by forcing unavoidable seasonal limits. Photographs on display – which depict an autumn mountain landscape with a portion of bright green landscape in the foreground representing the finished work - are associated with videos that document the performative process. While the photographs show bright coloured sections of hills set in a dry context, the videos tell the intervention that saw Cametti physically paint the landscape for a whole day, using non toxic paint. In this way the artist shows his rejection of the possibilities offered by technology in the field of image manipulation.

Sculpture and installation are the pivotal focus of Cametti’s practice, alongside other media such as photography, audio and video. His work stems from the observation of different materials and their physical features: marble, steel, organic elements. He thus examines the colour, the mechanical properties, the brightness and the shape of each element with the specific purpose of disguising its original appearence until it is completely transformed. A subtle game that Cametti uses to showcase, in a silent and almost invisible way, untold stories, small fragments of everyday life preserving the memory of the object’s functional past. Greenit fits in the aspect of the most recent research dedicated to the study of landscape, with a core of works that originate from the difference between the artist's physical intervention and the perception of the environment by the observer .

Changing Times

claudio libero pisano

To make is the term that best describes Simone Cametti’s work and practice.

His artworks are the statement of a path made by actions, gestures and endeavours, which document the work in its making. Whether he is working on apparently minimal interventions or on complex long term projects, what interests him is to document the technical and physical modalities at the base of the the work. A work that, once finished, is also an opportunity to measure and evaluate one’s physical resistance. In a polished marble, in a candle made of uncertain forms or in a landscape photograph, the artist’s main interest is to document the physical effort in order to present the finished work. Without the complexity of the “before” there would be no “after”, in which the artist erases every track of the accomplished effort. The final landscapes are pleasant postcards with powerful and inviting colours. But it is exactly in the force of Nature that the focus of the work stands.

Greenit are large photographs shot in autumn on the hills of the “Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso” portaying stunning landscapes where the hill in the foreground is always light green. Seemingly a snapshot without any presumption, a portion of hill with coloured grass in a completely dry context. A video is paired with every photograph, unveiling the substance of the project (invisible at a first glance): an intervention that has seen the artist physically paint the ground for many hours with a non toxic paint for plants (from which the title of exhibition is drawn). A long permormative action that, forcing seasonal limits, redefines a portion of landscape. A whole day to accomplish what now is done with a simple click and a basic knowledge of digital retouching softwars.

In a time when the endless possibilities of technology allow anyone to correct, delete or integrate images, Cametti chooses to manually modify Nature. Taking his time, avoiding any type of shortcut. To change time, aside from being a game on the alteration of seasons, of climate and of colours, is also an invitation to proceed slowly, with responsibility. To change it to reverse it and to breathe again. There’s no need for milions of images that claim to explain everything. Cametti needs just one to document the long time needed to make one of his works.

Denti is instead an artwork where a physical imperfection is a starting point to tell the artist’s biography. A photograph portrays him illuminated by a wood light that highlightens a flaw in his teeth . A detached and professional voice describes for a few minutes the artist’s artistic career, focusing on some of his most significant works. Just like in a radio show, one listens to the story absent-mindedly and continously. It is only during the last seconds that the substance of the project is revealed, linking the picture to the sound, in a game of references between true and false, between what we want to see and what really stands before our eyes. Perhaps reality is for Cametti a twisted path, but the goal is indeed very simple for him. Reality is much more surprising than some fake retouching.