Ottavio Celestino

"When faced with the Shroud, a profound question always arises about the mysteries of human life and existence"

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The playful relationship between art and image is at the center of Ugo Nespolo's style and poetics. His colorful and fragmented images take us back to the dimension of play, memory and lightheartedness. Compared to many of his contemporaries who entrust anxieties and conflicting feelings to the canvas, Ugo Nespolo is the voice outside the chorus, he shows us a colorful and positive, light universe. Despite this, however, his art is far from being superficial: as Calvino said, both in the written word and in art, lightness is much more difficult to interpret than anguish and darkness, it is the result of a profound and never disenchanted study, an interpretation of the world that cannot be improvised but must be deeply absorbed and studied. During the course of his career, the refusal to close himself within a single artistic current would also be the true characterizing trait of his style: eclectic and versatile, he is not only dedicated to pictorial art, his interest also concerns design, applied art and creative experimentation in various fields, such as advertising graphics, illustration, clothing, sets and costumes for operas.