Arcangelo

“One of the peculiarities of Arcangelo’s art [is] its characteristic mixture of gestural imprint, vertical fall of paint, stains, totem images and writing in a single work.” With these words critic Ivan Quaroni presents Arcangelo’s oeuvre as a painter and sculptor in a volume, which is a follow-up to his previous – and thorough – investigation of the artist’s work. By examining fifteen years of Arcangelo’s activity, the book can be read as a journey through the places and suggestions that influenced his art. Starting from his roots in Southern Italy – land of demons and mysterious rites, which will continue to inspire him in the series Terra mia (1983) and Feticci e Sanniti (2000) - Arcangelo mixes influences as varied as the African Dogon culture (Dogon, 1994) and the Middle Eastern one (Tappeti persiani, 2000), up to the “farthest, most extreme suggestion” in his series of paintings entitled Verso Oriente (1998). Born in Avellino in 1956, during the 1980s Arcangelo attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, where he was exposed to the masters of Italian sculpture, and later moved to Milan. Along with his intense exhibiting activity, Arcangelo realized numerous catalogues and art books, such as Monografia - Opere 1983-2002.