Arcangelo Sassolino

Arcangelo Sassolino: tension, anticipation and risk

Arcangelo Sassolino was born in Vicenza, Italy in 1967 where he still lives and works. His works and installations explore mechanical behavior in machines and materials as well as the physical properties and results of forces. Sassolino’s studio location, in the industrial north of Italy where the landscape has given way to industrial factories and an urban landscape, provides an endless resource in mechanical and industrial production. By applying to materials physical natural phenomena such as gravity, speed or pressure, a new potential is unlocked and allows a manipulation in the solidity of certain constituents. The functionality of the machinery used to exert these forces becomes an aesthetic of its own.

Establishing a relationship with the viewer is achieved through the creation of tension, expectancy and risk. Many of his works incorporate movement and inertia which encourage another type of reaction; a breakage or destruction is an “accident” determined by the machine’s process that is designed by the artist. This expectation and awareness of risk, alongside the strong aesthetic of the works are important in the onlooker’s experience.

Amongst his most recent solo shows we mention: “Arcangelo Sassolino, fragilissimo”, Galleria dello Scudo, Verona, Italy 2019; “Arcangelo Sassolino”, Villa Medici, Roma, Italy 2019; “Arcangelo Sassolino: Warped Matter, Curved Time”, Pearl Lam Galleries H Queen’s, Hong Kong 2018; “The Way We Were”, Galleria Continua/Le Moulin, Boissy-le-Châtel, France 2018. Amongst his most recent group shows we mention: “Artistic Intelligence”, Kunstverein, Hannover, DEU, curated by Sergey Harutoonian 2019; “Artistes & Robots”, Grand Palais, Paris, France 2019; “The Transported Man”, curated by Marc- Olivier Wahler, Broad Art Museum, MSU, USA 2017; “Prototypology”, curated by Aaron Moulton, Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy 2016.