Alessandro Cannistrà Studio Visit + Preview Exhibition

22-02-2014

Alessandro Cannistrà Studio Visit, San Lorenzo, Rome + Preview Exhibition

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I recently visited the studio of artist Alessandro Cannistrà in San Lorenzo.
It consisted in a white, neat room, pretty bare, except for some books, stucked in an arch in the wall over the door, and a black sofa with some black hats on it.
“This is an original gaucho hat.” he said grabbing a wide-brimmed leather hat on top of the stack “I bought it in Argentina, during my artist residency in Buenos Aires”.
Alessandro has travelled quite a bit lately and he recently relocated in Rome. His work keep on travelling internationally through exhibition and fairs, that’s why his studio was almost empty at the moment.
My attention was attracted by some 3D reconstructions that were pinpointed on the wall.
“Is that what are you working on at the moment?” I asked
Alessandro explained me that he was working on these pyramids for his new solo exhibition at Toselli Gallery, in Milan, curated by Luca Tomìo. The title was “Oggetto di Pensiero”, namely “Object of thinking”, and will open on March 28.

It looks like in the artist’s work is based on the concept of emptiness. To me, the levitating pyramid, that he relocates in some natural spaces, acts like an inverted frame.
You need emptiness around the artwork to appreciate it and concentrate on it. That’s the whole concept of the white room gallery.
This sort of vacuum acts like a frame circumscribing a space – in Cannistrà the vacuum becomes the subject. His pyramid becomes a concentration of pure and pristine energy, emptiness and silence. The unmoved in an ever changing world.
Not surprisingly, Alessandro told me that his work is very tightly connected with music. Synaesthetically speaking, that’s exactly how his work feels like to me, as the pause before the drums start beating again.