Fontanesi, GRANDISSIMA SELEZIONE, 2019

I think of fontanesi as a sixteenth century illustrator who, when faced with the task of representing a whale, realizes not only must he depict something which he has never seen but something which bears no relation to that which swims, runs of flies the earth. And so, before the misterious and the unknown, he must invent his own cetology using the tales and descriptions of the sailors.
fontanesi reconstructs reality based on a distant perceptions: he deforms, unites, compresses, cuts and enlarges the whole to give us the impression of a and delirious world superimposed on our own. Just as a narwhal could be turned into a unicorn in the sixteenth century, our provincial cities under fontanesi’s lens are populated with magical creatures, mystical objects and monsters of legend. Above all, fontanesi is the creation of a modern provincial folklore comprised of two-headed geriatrics, glasses of Aperol with feet sticking out, human bodies that sprout from human bodies, cars that – a cross between Munari and Goldberg – become both impossible and useless. fontanesi repopulates our everyday with yokai, goblins and protective spirits which, impressed in our mind, don’t delay in appearing before us as soon as we find ourselves staring at the crowd while waiting for a tram, having breakfast outside or in line to pay for parking. A smile will escape you. Greet the strange creature and thank fontanesi for evoking it to brighten up your day.
[Matteo Contin]