ART CITIES:Istanbul- Guido Casaretto

Over the last 5 years Guido Casaretto has been focusing on processes of sensory perception, utilizing different materials in order to make unusual copies of systems that represent various phenomena. Bringing to mind computer programs that attempt to simulate reality, these works blur the lines between the original and its copy. The artist thus invites viewers to question their confidence in their sensory perceptions.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Zilberman Gallery Archive

Guido Casaretto’s solo exhibitin “The Pope and Galileo Had a Minor Disagreement” takes place at Zilberman Gallery in Istanbul. With his most recent works Guido Casaretto establishes a relationship between sensory perception triggered through the layering of different elements, and craftsmanship that follows a similar layered process of creation. Inspired by the utilization of materials and the working methods of craftsmen, his works make it difficult to distinguish between real formations in nature and the artist’s attempts to copy them. By making use of various materials, geological formations and mythological stories from the Mediterranean Basin, the artist underlines the difference between art and craftsmanship, that is significant for this region. The core of the exhibition is “Rest-Off” (2017) that brings together all the materials used for the exhibition. Based on a myth, this work invites the audience to realize that their sensory perceptions are highly subjective and open to manipulation; and to reconsider what they accept as real. At one hand “Historical Connotations on a Z-axis” (2017) shows different pieces of marble (accumulated in a marble atelier) as a single, solid piece. Depicting the texture of marble by making use of graphite, the work also references the centuries of history carried within the material, and the concept of cultural heritage. On the other “Monte Rosso” (2017),  takes its inspiration from the brushstrokes of impressionist painters, and depicts a mountain resembling the Alps. Made with the traditional materials of painting, the work creates a relationship between the brushstrokes and the periodical formation of a real mountain.

Info: Zilberman Gallery, Istiklal Cad. No.163, Mısır Apartmanı K.3 D.10 Beyoğlu / Istanbul, Duration: 9/5-17/6/17, Days & Hours: Tue -Fri 10:00-19:30, Sat: 12:00-19:00, http://zilbermangallery.com