Metamorphosis in its melting avatar.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Zawyeh Gallery Dubai, in collaboration with Sara Simonit Contemporary, has announced the opening of Italian artist Giampiero Romano’s solo exhibition Fragile, Handle with Care on May 20. To run till September 17, it showcases the artist’s works based on his skills in restoration and preservation. Simonit is an art consultant based in London and Dubai.

“The artworks’ materials consist mainly of antique frames and mirrors and represent a journey to parallel temporal universes,” says Ziad Anani, Zawyeh Founder and owner. “They seem as if each has a life and character of its own; but they are all united under the artist’s attempt to break the monotony and uniformity of the “classic” antiques which can be referred to as history.”

One can sense a motion of rebellion in the artworks that contradicts the very material of antiques they are made of, he adds. After restoring and preserving old frames, Romano adds his touch to the works by fragmenting the mirrors and frames and making fundamental changes to their nature, before putting them back together again in new forms and shapes. The artist suggests that the old antique frames represent history, while the mirrors in the artworks represent us or the people with their multiple and variable lives.

“We, human beings are the mirror, the element that should give cohesion to the frame which is our history,” he says. In Fragile, Romano combines his artistic fecundity with his skills in preservation and restoration. He builds his universe with mirrors — but also breaks it. Thus the mirrors can look very classy, but are also quite fragile; exactly like people.

His expertise and unique weltanschauung is the result of many hours of hard work in his studio. He has lived with and researched antiques in a way that has become second nature to him. He does indeed see the past. But it has to be broken to form something new. The past, the present and the future therefore live together in his works.

 Giampiero Romano is an Italian artist.

The pieces combine historical memories (old frames), the present as reflected in people’s faces that see them, and leaves room for the future. For Romano, mirrors are not just use and throw items. They are record keepers too, preserving precious memories of their users. The frames, meanwhile, represent history. Both are the yin and yang of a continuing history.

If the mirrors are records, the frames give the context to the history. Thus a person looking into a Romano mirror is not only forced to see himself as an individual, but as someone who is part of an unfolding story. The artist is very much in the know of his surroundings. For example, in the current show, one can find a work titled Metamorphosis.

It is as though the piece was undergoing a melting process. For the artist, it is a shout against soaring temperatures and global warming. Born in 1973, Romano is an art designer from Milan, Italy. His works are based on antique pieces, mostly mirrors old frames, and furniture.

His background has not been made by design school or arts academies; he found his calling among nails, hammers and paints in his workshop located in the heart of Porta Venezia quarter, where he has dedicated himself for over two decades to the research and the restoration of antiques and design pieces.

Thanks to such experience and to his original creativity and hand skills, he started a fruitful collaboration with Maurizio Cattelan and Pier Paolo Ferrari’s Toilet Paper magazine, where he added his signature touch to the display of their famous graphics, producing art pieces shown in renowned art galleries worldwide. Cattelan is an Italian visual artist. Known primarily for his hyperrealistic sculptures and installations, his practice also includes curating and publishing.

His satirical approach to art has resulted in him being frequently labelled as a joker or prankster of the art world. Photographer Ferrari was born and raised in Milan, Italy, where his interest in taking photographs first took hold. He now takes portraits of Hollywood actresses and directors, landing the covers of L’Uomo Vogue and W Magazine as well as directing the print adverts of Armani and Kenzo, among other professional pursuits. In 2010, he created the Toilet Paper magazine, collaborating with Cattelan.

It is known for its cheeky hyperreal imagery, attempting to break down prevailing codes and photographic motifs of fashion. Romano’s production results in pieces and items in limited edition; the design and manufacturing is personally realised or followed by the artist himself, much like that happened in the ateliers of old school master craftsman. Tradition and innovation combine in Romano’s artworks, where the heritage of antiques and the art of the past are re-edited with a look to the future.

The newness and the never seen before elements in the works bring a cultural shock. It upends received aesthetical canons by replacing them with what was heretofore only antiquarian. Since 2019, he has been working with Plan X Art Gallery (Milan-Capri) and since 2020, with Mucciaccia Contemporary (New York-London-Singapore-Rome-Cortina).

He has also been producing a custom line of mirrors and furniture, named Antichita 3000. “If creativity is the art of looking at old things with new eyes,” says Romano, “The Antichita 3000 line perfectly embodies this idea: the antiques and the art of the past gaze to the future, to the new, to the never seen before.”