Emiliano Ponzi for glo for art at the Fuorisalone 2024

A hidden garden which is accessed through a tunnel – in which digital petals dance (and almost swirl) – which explodes with color revealing an imposing iron tree-sculpture, whose flowering metaphorically recalls that of the human being, when he finds himself in a relaxing environment and you can let yourself go until you almost lose your bearings. It’s about the work FLOWER UPthe installation signed by Emiliano Ponzi (Reggio Emilia, 1978) in via Statuto 2 (in the pulsating center of the Brera Design District) presented as part of the project glo for art.

Emiliano Ponzi for glo for art. The multi-handed work between Milan and New York

The artist – known for computer-generated illustrations, depicting glimpses of everyday life, often urban (characterised by a few elegant and essential lines), and recently also for a series of large hand-painted canvases -, he created FLOWER UP through a mix of analogue and digital techniques with the help of a multidisciplinary team, crossing over from one art to another and from one side of the Atlantic to the other. “One thing I learned by scaling up my work is that you can do many things alone but not everything, and that the communion of different ideas and professionalism always leads to excellent results”, he explains to Artribune. “I had an exceptional team: Cristiano Seganfreddothe FlashArt editor, oversaw the entire project and helped me find the right path to follow to create the right connection with the client of the work glo and its brand essence. Andrea Gallohe perfectly transferred my idea and my drawings into a majestic sculpture made of solid iron with a galvanized steel base and leaves and hand-painted with acrylic spray. Marco Rossella from New York (the city where Ponzi opened a studio just over a year ago, ed.) started from my drawings of the petals and generated the video loops which extend across two parallel monitors ten meters long in a tunnel and which accompany the visitor in the first part of the installation, the most immersive one. To do this, the petals were redesigned in 3D, multiplied and made to move randomly through invisible fans”.

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Emiliano Ponzi for glo for art. The artist between illustration and painting

From a youthful passion, painting has become an almost daily activity for Emiliano Ponziwho in 2023 exhibited in three Italian cities (Turin, Milan and Verona) for the personal exhibition In the beginning was the end. In his paintings it is possible to recognize the same precision of digital drawings, with fields of color applied within borders drawn with strips of adhesive tape and a taste for photographic framing that recalls Hopper and other painters of the American tradition. “I have always thought that the purpose of life was to grow. More than thinking it, I felt it and therefore followed it”, clarifies the artist again. “AND a theme of evolution: learning new things to enrich one’s identity because by doing this the ability to see the world and read oneself in that same world increases. Definitely taking up painting professionally again after 20 years requires a considerable technical, cognitive and even postural sacrifice. However, the working method, the way in which the image is created starting from an idea and then outlining shapes and colors in an increasingly precise manner, is the same whether you paint a 2 by 2 meter canvas or create a ‘illustration. The creative effort is the same but only the output changes: an acrylic painting or a file”.