Paolo Parisi

Born in Catania in 1965. Lives in Florence

Paolo Parisi's pictorial research takes its start from an abstract language that underscores his will to reflect upon the mechanisms of vision and enjoyment in the viewer-work relationship. He begins with a real image-a nautical map, a coastline, an aerial photograph-which he then ‘hides' under one or more layers of acrylic paint creating a monochrome surface that allows the previous image in oils to ‘re-surface' (a process over which he has no control). The way in which the artist intervenes on the built environment is further indicative of his interest in the viewer's subjective perception: the coloring of a glass window can turn daylight into another hue, while sound can render audible the movement of material recorded by the probe placed under a volcanoes' crust. The sculpture, made with layers of corrugated cardboard, can be visited inside, like a natural cavity, establishing new relationships between the container and its contents (Observatorium, 2004).