Francesco Simeti

Born in Palermo in 1968. Lives in New York and Palermo

Francesco Simeti's work begins with dramatic mass media images, the specific elements of which are isolated and multiplied as through they were decorative patterns, and then recombined in new ways that alter their initial meaning.
Weapons, rubble, bombings, and explosions are camouflaged in pleasant and colorful wallpaper motifs, in wrappings for designer objects, in decorative panels, or in wood-cuts. The dialectical contrast between the cruelty of the images and the playful or aesthetic appearance into which they are inserted prompts the viewer to think about the anesthetizing effect of the proliferation of media images and the ambiguity with which they are often used. At the same time, the sophisticated use of the applied arts conceals a sneer at bourgeois taste.