Luca Granato V. 2

Luca Granato is an installation, video, and performance artist as well as a photographer who has exhibited extensively in Italy as well as participated in exhibitions across Europe in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Notable solo exhibitions include dual shows at Conserveria Pastis in Turin, Italy, Colchester Arts Center in England, VAM Gallery in Treviso, Academy Heritage Museum in Catanzaro, and Gaia Gallery in Cosenza. Selected collective shows in Italy include Art Studio Finestreria in Milan, Fondazione Bertoni in Saluzzo,  Museo delle Arti in Catanzaro, Lucca Art Fair, and Sottogiudecca Gallery in Reggio Calabria. Luca’s notable accomplishments include prizes with ArtCabbage, Arcipelaghi, SEARTH, as well as a finalist for the Prisma Art Prize and Exibat Prize. 

Through a variety of methods containing social expression, Luca Granato creates photography with surveillance cameras, fiber-based installations, and conceptual video-based performance art. The Through your Eyes series contains poignant aesthetic digital photography captured through the optical lens of a data-driven surveillance camera. As a result, the photography is often pixelated and displays data on the top of the screen such as time and location of the footage. This series has an eerie government-based surveillance-state conceptual approach to the imagery based on subjects such as landscapes, facilities, and construction sites. Le ceneri dell’entroterra is a series based on cloth sheets smothered in charcoal ash. These intricate textural works express a dismay towards environmental fires based on human impact. Luca wishes to bring awareness to the issues of malicious fires which are incredibly destructive to the environment and those responsible who are often held unaccountable for. And finally, What if it were like this forever? contains a video performance of Luca trapped in a cell-like structure. In this tiny space, he wanders around searching for a sense of freedom of movement. As we observe the video, the viewer will notice the space being so small to the point Luca does not even have enough capacity to lie down in this ‘prison cell’. Luca then appears to be feeding from a trough revealing the structure to be some sort of animal pen. The piece remains a haunting take on human isolation as well as exposing the abuse of animals as well as people. 

The conceptual structure in Luca Granato’s art conveys imagery which has symbolic and metaphorical actions towards deeper pressing issues. His works are not based on aesthetics but rather steeped in social discourse regarding pressing matters such as human impact on the environment, institutional criticism as well as exploitation and marginalization of populations by various entities. 

Le ceneri dell’entroterra (pictured above) is a piece which contains a social commentary specifically on the rampant wildfires in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Through ash and soot, Luca covers a cloth sheet which reveals smudges as well as hand and fingerprints. As if indicating a struggle and revealing the apparition of those who have suffered from these devastating fires, both man and beast. Not only is the work conceptual but also a call to action to raise greater public awareness about such a pressing social issue. 

Luca Granato creates sophisticated works which have the viewer contemplate and question the role institutions have on our lives. From inaction towards rampant wildfires to incarceration to issues of surveillance and anthropomorphism, Luca reveals the purpose institutional structures have on our very existence. His varied methods of expression through riveting performances, conceptually-based purpose-driven installations, and sociologically-based photography reveals an artist who uses such cutting edge mediums to reveal deeper philosophical impetus towards issues of social decay and lack of security.

https://lucagranato.it