"Truly": subverting the history of aesthetic balances with a monumental project that ranges from painting to sculpture

The Piedmont artist Fabio Viale, in an institutional exhibition in the city of Versilia, Tuscany, revolutionizes the concepts of classical and ideal beauty with another tradition, perhaps even more ancient, that of tattoos

Fabio Viale's artistic production blends the tactile values of painting with the plastic values of sculpture, creating works of art that disorient the viewer. The aesthetic balances that man is accustomed to contemplate, especially in sculpture, are revolutionized by a combination with an even more ancient tradition, that of tattoos

"At the basis of his work there is always a respectful knowledge of the material," says Sergio Risaliti, artistic director of the Museo Novecento in Florence, "and it is thanks to this virtuous relationship, cultivated over the years, between technique and poetry, between materials and tools, between man and nature, that a creative process has been perfected, the purpose of which is, beyond other considerations, the exaltation of the formal properties of stone and the conceptual and figurative ones in the human imagination."

The work of the Three Graces for the Church of St. Augustine, a sculpture in white marble, very detailed in the details of the drapery, has as its subject three women originally from the city of Ghardaia from Algeria, with whom Viale came into contact during one of his frequent travels. Through the figure of the women, who are forced to wear a burka up to their feet, the artist emphasizes the theme of denied freedom and the obvious perception that Westerners have of it now, precisely at times of strong limitation, they are aware of its extent

Another work that the artist presents is that of the tattooed sculptures in marble destined for Piazza del Duomo in Versilia. The signs on the marble are for the first time the combination of the most current trends in tattooing, from that of a criminal to that of a Japanese, all the way to those with a South American influence, therefore giving life to an original and exclusive transversal language

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