L’orMa (in civil life Lorenzo Mariani), is a young emerging Italian artist, living and working in Milan. In January 2016 he won the Premio Gruppo Euromobil – Under 30 at the Bolognese art fair ARTE FIERA. Later in the year, the Arteam Cup, honoured him in the category “Over 30”. Part of this prize was an exhibition at the SPAZIO ARTE CUBO (Centro Unipol Bologna) held from 10 April to 27 May 2017. A catalogue of L’orMa’s previous oeuvres was presented during the closing of the show. The book edited by Vanillaedizioni and curated by Paola Veronesi Testoni, testimonies the already large and diversified work of this young artist.
Subdivided in 15 chapters, including an artist interview, articles by Matteo Galbiati, Alberto Mattia Martini and Isabella Falbo, the catalogue is richly illustrated by photos by Marco Mioli (exhibition at CUBO), Lorenzo Mariani and Paolo Vicentini. The structure of the presentation is not chronologically oriented, but through the subjects or materials used by L’orMa.
Born in 1985, the artist studied fine art at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Academy of Fine Arts Brera) in Milan and obtained several prizes for his work early in his carrier. Isabella Falbo describes his artistic practice as contextualised in the sector of post-conceptualism. It wanders from sculpture to photography, to painting, to collage and to installation. The catalogue reflects the broad spectrum appropriate and the texts complete the visual impressions.
In particular, the interview by Matteo Galbiati reveals the background of L’orMa’s oeuvre. He is questioning the cohabitation between natural and the virtual world. For him, the virtual sphere is the most concrete of the concrete. It is existing but it does not exist. This conception gets obvious in “Il Giardino delle delizie” (The Garden of Earthly Delights), a reinterpretation of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting, which he created on the occasion of the artists 500th date of death. For the spectator the triptych could have a virtual aspect like a 3D-image. Nevertheless, all the used materials have a natural origin.
Alberto Mattia Martini lingers in “Perfettamente imperfette” (Perfectly imperfect) a little longer in the domain of the artists’ artwork with vegetal elements. For him, it is a botanical exploration by means of art. L’orMa selects the object – for example a leaf – and decomposes it. This is necessary for the conservation. The final recomposition conveys a gleam to painting. It is not a creation ex nihilo, but makes use of the idea and the substance, forms and modifies the circumstances and gives a breath to art. So L’orMa mediates between the world of ideas and the sensible reality.
Besides the vegetal extracts, there are chapters about the manual interventions on photography, oeuvres in ceramic, laces in dust, paintings, works made on or out of paper and installations. L’orMa’s CV and his exhibition list complete the information. As a whole, the catalogue gives a good impression of the versatility and almost manic creative power of this still so young artist. For people who missed the exhibition in Bologna there is still the possibility to visit “L’orMa – Realmente?” at the gallery C2 contemporanea 2 in Florence (in collaboration with the Galleria Spazio Testoni) until 30th of June 2017. Alternatively, one might wait for the next show (WopArt, Lugano, 14 – 17 September 2017), meanwhile appreciating the succeeded catalogue.
L’orMa: Alla ricerca della sorprendente bellezza
ISBN: 978-88-6057-364-3
2017
128 pages
21 cm x 29,7 cm
Vanillaedizione (Albisola Marina)
25,00 €
www.vanillaedizioni.com