A year in review
A year in review
Matteo Guarnaccia (Milan 1954-2022) an artist and costume historian, was a leading figure in contemporary visionary culture. Already in the 1970s he was a leading figure in the European countercultural scene, with his psychedelic magazine, “Insekten Sekte.” Active in the field of art, with international exhibitions and installations: from the Milan Triennale to the Hall of Flowers in San Francisco, from the Venice Biennale to the Pecci Museum in Prato, from the Mazzotta and Mudima Foundation in Milan to the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation in Turin. He has exhibited his works in Italy, Holland, the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland, etc.
His works appear in major international magazines and catalogs, including Zoom (France), Underground Culture from all Parts of the World (Japan): he is one of the few Italian artists featured in Grushkin & King's prestigious 2004 Art of Modern Rock. He has been involved in fashion with various projects, collaborating with Vivienne Westwood (for whom he designed a Capsule Collection), Biba (London), Corso Como 10, Malo, Stephan Marais (Paris). In the field of design he has worked alongside Bruno Munari, Atelier Mendini, Italo Rota & Partners, Alessandro Guerriero, Piero Fornasetti.
He has written and designed more than sixty “essays” dedicated to the avant-garde and subcultures of the twentieth century, published by various publishers, including Rizzoli, Phaidon, Hoepli, Mondadori, 24 ORE Cultura, as well as collaborating with various newspapers. With ShaKe he published Rebels with Style (2009), Psychedelica (2010), Italian Underground (2011), Guernica Blues. Counterhistory of the Arts from 1945 to the Present (2012), Shamans (2016), All You Need is Love (2017), as well as beautifully illustrating Terence McKenna's classic travelogue, True Hallucinations (new ed. 2022).
Matteo Guarnaccia (Milan 1954-2022) an artist and costume historian, was a leading figure in contemporary visionary culture. Already in the 1970s he was a leading figure in the European countercultural scene, with his psychedelic magazine, “Insekten Sekte.” Active in the field of art, with international exhibitions and installations: from the Milan Triennale to the Hall of Flowers in San Francisco, from the Venice Biennale to the Pecci Museum in Prato, from the Mazzotta and Mudima Foundation in Milan to the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation in Turin. He has exhibited his works in Italy, Holland, the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland, etc.
His works appear in major international magazines and catalogs, including Zoom (France), Underground Culture from all Parts of the World (Japan): he is one of the few Italian artists featured in Grushkin & King's prestigious 2004 Art of Modern Rock. He has been involved in fashion with various projects, collaborating with Vivienne Westwood (for whom he designed a Capsule Collection), Biba (London), Corso Como 10, Malo, Stephan Marais (Paris). In the field of design he has worked alongside Bruno Munari, Atelier Mendini, Italo Rota & Partners, Alessandro Guerriero, Piero Fornasetti.
He has written and designed more than sixty “essays” dedicated to the avant-garde and subcultures of the twentieth century, published by various publishers, including Rizzoli, Phaidon, Hoepli, Mondadori, 24 ORE Cultura, as well as collaborating with various newspapers. With ShaKe he published Rebels with Style (2009), Psychedelica (2010), Italian Underground (2011), Guernica Blues. Counterhistory of the Arts from 1945 to the Present (2012), Shamans (2016), All You Need is Love (2017), as well as beautifully illustrating Terence McKenna's classic travelogue, True Hallucinations (new ed. 2022).
Paolo Pibi was born in Oristano in 1987, and currently lives and works in Turin. After studies at the Fine Arts Academy of Sassari, he began to show work in galleries and museums in major Italian cities. He moved to Milan from 2012 to 2022, working with various galleries in the city and taking part in many national and international exhibitions. His work has been chosen for special projects with brands like Louis Vuitton and institutions like the Galleria Nazionale in Rome. His painting is based on reflections on the medium itself and his own experiences, generating layered imagery in a constant state of change, in pursuit of a personal form of equilibrium.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Alchimie nel Vuoto in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late February.
Elena Salmistraro is a designer and artist, born in 1983 in Milan, where she currently lives and works. With a degree in Fashion Design and Industrial Design from the Milan Polytechnic, in 2009 she founded her own studio with the architect Angelo Stoli, working on projects that range from art to design and fashion.
Her style stands out for the use of three-dimensional textures and bright colors, blending art and design. She has worked with important companies like Alessi, Apple, Bosa, and Nike. She has received many awards, and in 2022 she was assigned the prestigious Frame Design Award as Best Designer by the international magazine of architecture and Frame. Since 2017 she is a World Ambassador of Italian Design. Her works have been shown in the leading Italian and international fairs, and in some of the most important museums, including the Triennale Design Museum, the Guggenheim in Venice, the ADI Design Museum, and Pinacoteca di Brera. She has participated at TEDx in Padua in 2022, and in 2023 Forbes Italia included her among the 100 successful women of the year. Besides her creative activities, she teaches Design in schools like the Milan Polytechnic and Istituto Marangoni.
Esther Pearl Watson was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1973. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Her paintings are strictly autobiographical, based mainly on the pages of her diary, recent events and childhood memories, reflecting an extraordinary background and an unusual family life. Esther spent a large part of her youth in Texas. Her family was always pursued by her father’s obsessive dream, as an almost visionary scientist, of building a functioning spaceship and selling it to NASA or to Ross Perot. Her artistic style has roots in the early years of her career, when she realized that her best source of inspiration was her own life. Esther has shown in important international galleries like Maureen Paley in London, and at international fairs such as Art Basel and Frieze London.
Born in Los Angeles in 1947, then a naturalized Texan, he is a cult figure in the world of alternative music, the greatest living folk-country singer-songwriter according to the critic John Swenson. Since 1976, parallel to his songs he has developed a passion for painting and literature. With a degree in criminology, he has written a book of quotations with Sylvia Tyson, a mystery novel and a volume of correspondence with Charles Bukowski. Defined as a Hemingway of modern times, and an author of memorable songs that are often set in the borderlands of Texas, such as Gallo Del Cielo, the story of a disgraced farmer who steals a one-eyed fighting rooster (rooster born in heaven) who won it all, until he met Zorro… or Blue Wing, the tale of a tattoo and the jailbird who wears it on his skin. Desperados, outcasts, losers, adventurers are the protagonists of his variegated tableau of humanity.
According to Monte Hellman, director of the legendary anti-western The Shooting, a primitive tension exists in Russell’s music and art, while the writer Annie Proulx has spoken of his restless curiosity and violent imagination. The Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti said that his style brings together Johnny Cash, Jim Harrison and Bukowski. During his long career as a musician he has worked, among others, with Lucinda Williams and Calexico. Luigi Grechi, the brother of Francesco De Gregori, has translated some of his pieces, and De Gregori himself has performed Angel of Lyon by Russell, on the album Per brevità chiamato artista (2008).
Tom Russell has shown work in museums and galleries in the United States, Canada and Switzerland, and his works have been acquired by the El Paso Museum of Art.
Ryan Heshka was born in Manitoba, Canada in 1970, and lives and works in Vancouver. He studied architecture and took a degree in interior design, a field in which he worked for many years, along with that of animation, before making art and illustration his main activities. His works are influenced by the Golden Age of comic books (favorite artists include Jack Kirby, Bill Everett and Basil Wolverton), pulp magazines (Frank R. Paul), children’s books (Dr. Seuss), monster movies and B-movies (such as those of Ray Harryhausen, or films about King Kong and Dracula), old advertisements and vintage posters, all ingredients that have shaped his original artistic style. Outside of pop culture, other influences include the natural world, industrial and architectural design, and fashion. During childhood, besides drawing, Heshka enjoyed making models of little cities, and he filmed them using the stop motion technique in Super 8 mm to create his own imaginary world. His works have been featured in the most important annuals on illustration, including American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, 3 x 3 and Applied Arts, and in Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Playboy, Esquire, Forbes, as well as by Topps and Dreamworks SKG. He has shown in galleries in North America and Europe, and his images have been published many times in the magazine BLAB! and in books on the Pop Surrealism movement, including The Upset: Young Contemporary Art by Robert Klanten and Beautiful Dreamers: Il nuovo sogno americano tra Lowbrow Art e Pop Surrealism by Ivan Quaroni. In 2017 the publisher Cernunnos released his first monograph, titled Fatales: The Art of Ryan Heshka. Heshka has also published the comic “Mean Girls Club” (2015), the graphic novel “Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn” (2018), and the self-produced comics “Frog Wife” (2018) and “Pleasure Planet” (2021).
Ryan Heshka was born in Manitoba, Canada in 1970, and lives and works in Vancouver. He studied architecture and took a degree in interior design, a field in which he worked for many years, along with that of animation, before making art and illustration his main activities. His works are influenced by the Golden Age of comic books (favorite artists include Jack Kirby, Bill Everett and Basil Wolverton), pulp magazines (Frank R. Paul), children’s books (Dr. Seuss), monster movies and B-movies (such as those of Ray Harryhausen, or films about King Kong and Dracula), old advertisements and vintage posters, all ingredients that have shaped his original artistic style. Outside of pop culture, other influences include the natural world, industrial and architectural design, and fashion. During childhood, besides drawing, Heshka enjoyed making models of little cities, and he filmed them using the stop motion technique in Super 8 mm to create his own imaginary world. His works have been featured in the most important annuals on illustration, including American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, 3 x 3 and Applied Arts, and in Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Playboy, Esquire, Forbes, as well as by Topps and Dreamworks SKG. He has shown in galleries in North America and Europe, and his images have been published many times in the magazine BLAB! and in books on the Pop Surrealism movement, including The Upset: Young Contemporary Art by Robert Klanten and Beautiful Dreamers: Il nuovo sogno americano tra Lowbrow Art e Pop Surrealism by Ivan Quaroni. In 2017 the publisher Cernunnos released his first monograph, titled Fatales: The Art of Ryan Heshka. Heshka has also published the comic “Mean Girls Club” (2015), the graphic novel “Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn” (2018), and the self-produced comics “Frog Wife” (2018) and “Pleasure Planet” (2021).
Ryan Heshka was born in Manitoba, Canada in 1970, and lives and works in Vancouver. He studied architecture and took a degree in interior design, a field in which he worked for many years, along with that of animation, before making art and illustration his main activities. His works are influenced by the Golden Age of comic books (favorite artists include Jack Kirby, Bill Everett and Basil Wolverton), pulp magazines (Frank R. Paul), children’s books (Dr. Seuss), monster movies and B-movies (such as those of Ray Harryhausen, or films about King Kong and Dracula), old advertisements and vintage posters, all ingredients that have shaped his original artistic style. Outside of pop culture, other influences include the natural world, industrial and architectural design, and fashion. During childhood, besides drawing, Heshka enjoyed making models of little cities, and he filmed them using the stop motion technique in Super 8 mm to create his own imaginary world. His works have been featured in the most important annuals on illustration, including American Illustration, Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, 3 x 3 and Applied Arts, and in Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Playboy, Esquire, Forbes, as well as by Topps and Dreamworks SKG. He has shown in galleries in North America and Europe, and his images have been published many times in the magazine BLAB! and in books on the Pop Surrealism movement, including The Upset: Young Contemporary Art by Robert Klanten and Beautiful Dreamers: Il nuovo sogno americano tra Lowbrow Art e Pop Surrealism by Ivan Quaroni. In 2017 the publisher Cernunnos released his first monograph, titled Fatales: The Art of Ryan Heshka. Heshka has also published the comic “Mean Girls Club” (2015), the graphic novel “Mean Girls Club: Pink Dawn” (2018), and the self-produced comics “Frog Wife” (2018) and “Pleasure Planet” (2021).
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Pittori d'Italia in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late July.
Nicola Caredda was born in Cagliari in 1981. He studied art and took a degree in Painting at the Fine Arts Academy of Sassari. While still a student he worked with the gallery LEM, presenting his creations in various public and private spaces, including the MAN Museum of Nuoro. After the early years of activity in Sardinia he moved to Milan, taking part in many exhibitions, also in the United States, and showing in international fairs like Scope Art Miami and Moniker London. His works have been featured at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, and he collaborates with Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles, where he made his debut in 2020 with his first American solo show, God Save My Sweet Pusher, followed in 2022 by a new solo exhibition titled Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Pittori d'Italia in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late July.
Riccardo Nannini was born in Grosseto in 1980. He presently lives and works in Barcelona and southern Tuscany. With a degree in Industrial Design from the Milan Polytechnic, after several years as an assistant to the designer Andrea Incontri he moved to Barcelona in 2010. In that city, he began to experiment with drawing and painting, approaching themes such as the absurdity of the human condition and the pressure of social interactions in the definition of identity, mixing references ranging from genre scenes to folklore and pop culture. An active figure on the underground scene in Barcelona, Nannini collaborates with various magazines, emerging brands and galleries, in Italy and Europe, the United States and Asia.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Alchimie nel Vuoto in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late February.
Elena Salmistraro is a designer and artist, born in 1983 in Milan, where she currently lives and works. With a degree in Fashion Design and Industrial Design from the Milan Polytechnic, in 2009 she founded her own studio with the architect Angelo Stoli, working on projects that range from art to design and fashion.
Her style stands out for the use of three-dimensional textures and bright colors, blending art and design. She has worked with important companies like Alessi, Apple, Bosa, and Nike. She has received many awards, and in 2022 she was assigned the prestigious Frame Design Award as Best Designer by the international magazine of architecture and Frame. Since 2017 she is a World Ambassador of Italian Design. Her works have been shown in the leading Italian and international fairs, and in some of the most important museums, including the Triennale Design Museum, the Guggenheim in Venice, the ADI Design Museum, and Pinacoteca di Brera. She has participated at TEDx in Padua in 2022, and in 2023 Forbes Italia included her among the 100 successful women of the year. Besides her creative activities, she teaches Design in schools like the Milan Polytechnic and Istituto Marangoni.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Landscape’s Body in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late November.
Iryna Maksymova was born and raised in a small town in the western part of Ukraine, known as Kolomyia. In 2013 she took a degree at the department of Graphic Design of the Lviv Polytechnic National University. She began her career as an artist in 2020 with her first solo exhibition in Lviv. Since then, Maksymova has taken part in various group shows in Ukraine and elsewhere, including New York (2022), London (2022), Madrid (2022), Beijing (2022), Los Angeles (2021), Berlin (2021).
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Landscape’s Body in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late November.
Iryna Maksymova was born and raised in a small town in the western part of Ukraine, known as Kolomyia. In 2013 she took a degree at the department of Graphic Design of the Lviv Polytechnic National University. She began her career as an artist in 2020 with her first solo exhibition in Lviv. Since then, Maksymova has taken part in various group shows in Ukraine and elsewhere, including New York (2022), London (2022), Madrid (2022), Beijing (2022), Los Angeles (2021), Berlin (2021).
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Myths and Fables - Daphne Christoforou and Lusesita", curated by Ivan Quaroni, in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late November.
Daphne Christoforou was born in 1987 in Nicosia, Cyprus, where she lives and works. She is a Cypriot visual artist with a focus on ceramics and painting. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and during her studies was student illustrator of the year at the V&A and received an Adobe Achievement Award in Los Angeles.
Her work is narrative in nature and revolves around Greek myths, human interaction and behavior. Producing art is both transformative and reassuring for her, not only because of the enjoyable process of generating pictorial representations, but also because of the possibility of communicating inner states through narrative work.
The artist has exhibited in London, Bruselles, Madrid, Los Angeles and Beijing in galleries and various public institutions.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Myths and Fables - Daphne Christoforou and Lusesita", curated by Ivan Quaroni, in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late November.
Daphne Christoforou was born in 1987 in Nicosia, Cyprus, where she lives and works. She is a Cypriot visual artist with a focus on ceramics and painting. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in London and during her studies was student illustrator of the year at the V&A and received an Adobe Achievement Award in Los Angeles.
Her work is narrative in nature and revolves around Greek myths, human interaction and behavior. Producing art is both transformative and reassuring for her, not only because of the enjoyable process of generating pictorial representations, but also because of the possibility of communicating inner states through narrative work.
The artist has exhibited in London, Bruselles, Madrid, Los Angeles and Beijing in galleries and various public institutions.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Myths and Fables - Daphne Christoforou and Lusesita", curated by Ivan Quaroni, in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late November.
Lusesita (Laura Lasheras) was born in Calahorra (Spain) in 1979. She lives and works in Madrid. She has lived and worked in Barcelona since 2004.
She studied Art at the University of Logroño, later specializing in ceramics at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zaragoza. Since 2008, Lusesita has been teaching ceramics classes regularly at her atelier in Barcelona.
Solo exhibitions include: in 2018, Candy Memories, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milan; in 2017 Origen, Miquel Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona; in 2014 Picnic, Miguel Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona; in 2013 La Piñata, Asociación de ceramistas de Cataluña, Barcelona; in 2011 Musas (double solo show with Sergio Mora), Drexel Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico; El jardín Doméstico, Contemporary Art center Can Sisterè, Barcelona; in 2010 Junglas y Minijunglas, Imaginart gallery, Barcelona.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Myths and Fables - Daphne Christoforou and Lusesita", curated by Ivan Quaroni, in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late November.
Lusesita (Laura Lasheras) was born in Calahorra (Spain) in 1979. She lives and works in Madrid. She has lived and worked in Barcelona since 2004.
She studied Art at the University of Logroño, later specializing in ceramics at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zaragoza. Since 2008, Lusesita has been teaching ceramics classes regularly at her atelier in Barcelona.
Solo exhibitions include: in 2018, Candy Memories, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milan; in 2017 Origen, Miquel Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona; in 2014 Picnic, Miguel Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona; in 2013 La Piñata, Asociación de ceramistas de Cataluña, Barcelona; in 2011 Musas (double solo show with Sergio Mora), Drexel Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico; El jardín Doméstico, Contemporary Art center Can Sisterè, Barcelona; in 2010 Junglas y Minijunglas, Imaginart gallery, Barcelona.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Pittori d'Italia in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late July.
Agnese Guido was born in Lecce in 1982. She presently lives and works in Milan. With a degree in Painting from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts of Milan, she has taken part in various exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Her work is based on intuitive research on the symbolism of images, through painting and drawing, the languages with which she explores the poetic, paradoxical and disturbing aspects of reality. Her recent works lean towards a more mysterious, evocative and at the same time carnal dimension, in which the unpredictability of the subjects becomes a key factor.
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Pittori d'Italia in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late July.
El Gato Chimney (Marco Campori) was born in Milan in 1981, where he currently lives and works. An autodidact, El Gato Chimney has a background as a street artist, a practice he then abandoned in favor of more introspective explorations in the studio. He conducts research on a wide range of subjects: primitive and religious art, esoteric and spiritual themes, folklore, magical realism in literature. During his career he has shown work in galleries and museums, in Italy and abroad, taking part in various national and international fairs. His latest publications include Nothing Is Real (2016, Silvana Editore, Italy); The Encyclopedia of Fernal Affairs (2015, France) and Hunt and Gather (Mark Batty Publisher, 2010, United States).
Please, note that the artwork is currently on view in the show Pittori d'Italia in Milan. In case of purchase, it will be shipped in late July.
Silvia Paci was born in Prato in 1990, and presently lives and works in Milan. After having studied Painting at the Fine Arts Academy of Florence, she moved to Berlin in 2016, where she continued her training with the painter Eoin Llewellyn at the Berlin Art Class. That same year she spent time in Beijing for an art residency sponsored by the gallery The Showroom and by the Australian collector and ambassador in Beijing Geoff Raby, in the Chaochangdi district. In 2020 she moved to Milan for an art residency at VIAFARINI. Her painting represents reality without being realistic, creating illusion not through imitation but with the breaking down of subjects, the cutting of images and the choice of colors. Her work has been featured in many solo and group shows in Italy and abroad, held in galleries and institutional spaces.