Artist of the day: 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.

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