Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Artist of the Day, October 9, 2024: Antonio Riello, an Italian painter, sculptor, designer, photographer, installation and video-games artist (#2132)

 Antonio Riello (1958) is an Italian eclectic and visionary artist, interested in techniques as varied as painting, sculpture, design, photography, installation and video-games.

He is committed to “explore” artistically the most topical and controversial issues of contemporary Western society, and he thinks ambivalence is the “symbolic form” of our present time: a controlled and various degree of ambiguity (mixed with sarcasm) is the significant and main element of his research.

In 1996 he created the work ITALIANI BRAVA GENTE (a playable videogame totally conceived and made by the artist) about the surging of racism and xenophobia in the "Bel Paese", this artwork has had at the beginning a very harsh welcome by most of Italian media because it was (wrongly) considered "a stain" in the national reputation. In 2022 it has been achieved by the collection of digital artworks of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

In typical stylish Italian fashion, Antonio arrived effortlessly dressed and eager to talk about his conceptual art that expresses itself in a variety of mediums. These include paper, ceramics, glass and even a Vespa!

Currently, some of Antonio’s unconventional pieces are displayed amidst the classic artwork of Bassano del Grappa museum’s permanent collection. The idea being to challenge and provoke tradition. It’s also a novel way to introduce people interested in classical art to something different, for example, Antonio’s ceramic Kalashnikov rifle that located next to an example of IX century BCE pottery.

Antonio Riello was always attracted to art, especially visual art.  He visited museums and drew as a teenager. He finished his studies as fast as heI could and graduated quickly to get it over with! He never went to art school.

His turning point was when he read a book by Paul Klee, a diary of a trip he took to Tunisia. He was fascinated by it, especially when Klee was describing the light of Northern Africa.  After reading that book, he was inspired to pursue a vocation in art.

© 2024. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Antonio Riello or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Antonio Riello
 Hedwing, 2001

Rita, 2001
BA2-USM 5, 2002
 BC 3 SIPE, 2002
PB2 Colt MK4 , 2002
Portrait of Modern Bomb Nº 9, 2002
A Desperate Attempt of Vice to Turn Up in Virtue, 2003
Bicinecaponecoda, 2015
Bicinecaponecoda, 2015
Crokonecaponecoda, 2015
 Rhino, 2015
Shot gun to shoot anywhere,  2016
AK 47 To shoot nowhere, 2017
Quarantine Drawings,  2020
Quarantine Drawings,  2020
Quarantine Drawings,  2020
Quarantine Drawings,  2020
Quarantine Drawings,  2020
Quarantine Drawings,  2020
Bicycle,  2020
Karma (Walkable Art), 2023
Artupon
Artupon
Pandafotocoda
Fotopandatesta
Scissors
Ladies Weapons
Riello

No comments:

Post a Comment