ART CITIES:Athens- Mario Airò

Mario Airò was born in Pavia and lives and works in Genoa and Milan. He studied in Milan where with other artists has inspired the autonomous space of Via Lazzaro Palazzi in the first half of the ‘90s. For several years he is professor of the Laboratory of Art at the Faculty of Arts and Design of the IUAV of Venice.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Bernier-Eliades Gallery Archive

Mario Airò’s interventions arise mainly with the intention of inducing the viewer moods and strongly emotional sensations. Composed of objects, images, text, sound and light sources playing on the delicacy, incantatory effect and enticing to turn his exhibitions into immersive environments mental spaces, unreal, capable, in their persistent perfection, to return the meaning of a dream life more who lived. The title of his solo exhibition “The gap in between” at Bernier-Eliades Gallery in Athens, is inspired by a quote from a famous statement by Robert Rauschenberg: “Painting relates to both art and life. Neither can be made. (I try to act in that gap between the two.)” As the artist says “The gap is a place where art modifies life and life modifies art. The idea of transforming art in order to get it so close to life that you could not see anymore the border between the two, was the starting point of my research”. “Calla lily” is a sculpture, a drawing in the air, whose function is to be the vase for a flower. “Aurora” is a cut out of beechwood that resembles a hill horizon. Behind it, neon lights illuminate the wall like at dawn. “Grattage” is a drawing, made simply by brushing a sheet of paper with sand paper. It is glued on a piece of glass with neon lights on the reverse side so that we look through it like an X-ray. The result is an abstract, cloud-like shape. In “Il suono dell’acqua a neon circle is bridged by a brass bar, like the trail of a flying fish jumping out of water. “En plein air” is a series of photographs taken in non- anthropic landscapes. A laser draws figures on a beach, on a mountain, a lake, a canyon and two trees facing each other. The drawings try to create a symbiotic relationship with the natural elements. “Da cosa nasce cosa” is a fiber optic installation created specifically to interact with a tree.

Info: Bernier-Eliades Gallery, 11 Eptachalkou Street, Athens, Duration: 22/9-7/11/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 10:30-18:30, Sat 12:00-16:00, www.bernier-eliades.gr