CHRISTIE’S HONG KONG
21st Century Day Sale, 05/29/2024, Christie’s, Hong Kong, HK
LOT #387, “PX8371S” (Paint on Pixel).
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6486395?ldp_breadcrumb=back
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LOST SIGNALS (series)
On the occasion of the NFT.NYC event, Skygolpe presented a preview of his upcoming collection, Lost Signals.
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PAINT ON PIXEL (series)
"Paint on Pixel" marks Skygolpe’s inaugural venture into the realm of physical art. Following a successful debut at Christie's auction in July 2022, the collection has been showcased through solo exhibitions across Switzerland, the United States, and the UAE.
This collection is significant as it represents one of the first successful attempts to merge physical art with digital technology. Each painting is linked to its NFT certificate, and for the first time in a prestigious context like Christie's, ownership of the physical painting was obtained through the auctioning of the digital certificate of authenticity.
Skygolpe’s artistic practice blends various digital and analog elements to achieve a hybrid outcome, situated at the intersection of virtual and tangible dimensions. This body of work features canvases where the physical and digital realms collide, exploring the relationship between meaning and context.
Acrylic paint on canvas interacts with diverse underlying materials and patterns, fostering a dialogue that transcends a monothematic definition of painting, embracing novel, heterogeneous forms. Each piece is crafted akin to a “desktop,” blending fragments of various references to create comparisons and juxtapositions while revisiting a gestural approach. The artist employs an array of materials and techniques, both digital and physical, merging them into a seamless, indissoluble whole.
For Skygolpe, a painting represents a complex system comprising numerous objects, each reproduced in various ways under distinct technical conditions. These objects possess unique shapes, sizes, positions, and surface morphologies. Numerous factors influence their digital manifestation on a physical surface. The works undergo scanning, printing, and reproduction before being revisited until they embody a result mediated by chance.
Skygolpe’s signature silhouette often appears with blurred, flaking edges, surrendering its form in favor of an abstract composition that gradually integrates and assumes a central role in the work, becoming the true subject. Many of the textures employed in his paintings are conceived entirely in the digital realm, while others are derived from physical color experiments conducted in the studio. Skygolpe is captivated by the potential to alter and transform reality and the viewer’s perception through these works, which often represent attempts at partial compositions—sometimes complete, other times still awaiting completion.
PAINT ON PIXEL EXHIBITIONS:
2022 July 8-21, Christie’s, New York, US
2022 September 29, Galerie Widmer Auktionen, Zurich, CH
2022 November 10, Lugano, CH
2022 June 13-14, Basel, CH
2023 November 15, 2023, January 7, 2024, Dubai, UAE
2024 May 29,
Christie’s, Hong Kong, HK
2024 June, TBD, Basel, CH
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THIRD DIMENSION (solo exhibition)
Curated by: Giuseppe Moscatello
Venue: Foundry, Dubai
Date: November 15, 2023 – January 7, 2024
“Throughout history, artists have predominantly been perceived as mirrors of society, encapsulating its core, and reflecting its ethos.
Skygolpe emerged as a notable figure in the post-NFT artistic movement. The name blends ‘Sky’, denoting infinity, with ‘Golpe’, indicative of ‘human intervention’. By reinterpreting the conventional artist’s role, he introduces a novel approach to the art world, venturing beyond the borders of traditional art practices and infusing his work with an entrepreneurial spirit. Instead of just being the creator of his work, he positions himself as an innovator and visionary, reshaping and defining cultural narratives, and therefore pushing boundaries.
For Skygolpe, a canvas acts as a gateway, a multifaceted system encompassing diverse elements, each depicted uniquely under specific technical paradigms. These elements feature distinct forms, dimensions, placements, and texture dynamics. His work merges digital and physical aspects and delves deeply into philosophical domains. His hallmark silhouette, frequently appearing with indistinct, disintegrating borders, morphs into an abstract structure that gradually assumes prominence within the artwork.
For Skygolpe’s debut in Dubai and across the Arab region, he is presenting an exhibition titled “Third Dimension,” which combines bodies of work he has created over the last few years. For him, this represents an emblem of emotional depth, concealed implications, or the intricate layers of human consciousness. A bi-dimensional artwork can represent the observable universe while introducing a “third dimension” could unveil the concealed, unexpressed, or inner dimensions of a theme. This display serves as a reflective journey, revisiting the past, assessing the present, and envisioning the future through a diverse perspective.
Skygolpe’s silhouettes offer a fragmented view of identity, conveyed through a modern interpretation of pop art. These multi-tiered entities, defined by a radiant color spectrum and a diverse array of forms, voice a new-age symbolism, nurturing a singular visual language.
This body of work comprises canvases where the physical and digital realms converge, exploring the relationship between meaning and context. Each piece is crafted reminiscent of a “desktop,” blending fragments of other references to foster comparisons and juxtapositions while revisiting a gestural approach. The canvases thus encapsulate a process that generates “errors” and unforeseen outcomes, culminating in the composition of the final painting. His acrylic paint on canvas interacts with diverse underlying materials and patterns, initiating a dialogue that goes beyond a singular definition of painting. Many of the textures utilized in his paintings originate entirely in the digital domain, while others stem from physical color experiments conducted in the studio.
Giuseppe Moscatello
Press:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/skygolpe-foundry-dubai-2390082
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/7-questions-skygolpe-2368192
https://www.moussemagazine.it/magazine/skygolpe-at-foundry-dubai-2023
https://artviewer.org/skygolpe-at-foundry/
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NFTS ARE DEAD
intervention in various locations, Italy
Date:
January 10, 2024 – on-going
The declaration 'NFTs are dead' serves as a provocative statement designed to stimulate contemplation and prompt reflection on the rapid pace at which we embrace trends within the digital art scene. This statement, which appears fully immersed in the present moment, actually engages with the ongoing tension through its inherent contradiction.
Discussing the 'death' of something as novel as NFTs is puzzling. It's akin to witnessing the birth of a star and then, declaring it extinguished. In our world, where even our digital personas have a life of their own in bits and bytes, asserting that something is dead transcends mere words – it's a complex riddle. Despite appearances, this work isn't disparaging NFTs. Instead, it invites us to look far beyond the current perspective.
The concept of this work was first introduced by Skygolpe during his solo show at FOUNDRY in Dubai, 15.11.23 / 07.01.24.
Press:
https://www.ofluxo.net/nfts-are-dead-intervention-in-various-locations-in-italy-by-skygolpe
https://artviewer.org/skygolpe-at-various-locations/
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GRAILS V by PROOF
Curated by Eli Scheinman
Date: December 2023
Title: POLYFEEL
Year: 2023
Explore:
https://www.proof.xyz/grails/season-5
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PCS: Post Concrete Semiotics
A central discovery of modern experimental psychology is that human behavior is heavily influenced by external factors without the subject being fully aware of the influence. Behavior is sensitive to context and the mind is malleable, meaning it can be constantly shaped and reshaped by a myriad of causal factors.Human beings possess a large number of epigenetic traits, so it cannot be excluded that future and extended interaction with VR environments may lead to more fundamental changes, not only at the psychological level but also at the biological level.
The plasticity of the mind is not limited to behavioral traits – the illusion of reincarnation, for example, is possible because the mind is so malleable that it can even distort its own reincarnation. To be clear, embodied hallucinations can arise from normal brain activity and do not necessarily imply changes in the underlying neural structure. Such hallucinations naturally occur in dreams, for example, or in phantom limb experiences, out-of-body experiences, and body integrity identity disorders, and sometimes include changes in what is known in consciousness research as “unit of identity,” a phenomenon that relates to the conscious content we currently experience as “ourselves.”
“As one of the leading artists in the digital art space, Skygolpe mixes in his practice different digital and analogue elements, taken up by culture and the new contemporary aesthetics that characterize technology, to achieve a hybrid result that lives in a middle ground between the virtual and real dimensions (mixed reality).
In this show, Skygolpe blurs the lines of representation, inviting the visitor to question the normal boundaries between virtual and physical experiences and the long series of evocations generated by the works and by their arrangement/juxtaposition as symbols within the gallery.
Through this open evocation and by focusing on the exterior and aesthetics of the technology, this project pushes the viewer to consi- der the decisive presence of the digital within their own lives and in their experiences.
In this exhibition, Skygolpe makes us become part of a research deliberately focused on the surface of technology, on the appearance , while describing with the ready made works exhibited, a technological brutalism composed of symbols in constant becoming.”
Press:
https://artviewer.org/skygolpe-at-nighttimestory/
https://artviewer.org/special-feature-conversation-with-skygolpe/
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OTHER WORKS
Skygolpe's installation work is notably diverse, blending ready-made sculptures, screens, and digital pieces into a seamless and continuous reference framework. The themes of perception and contradiction once again take center stage in this more experimental collection.
Often, the use of LCD screens hints at a realm beyond the physical confines of the gallery, expanding the installations into external references, while metal structures support and divide the gallery space to define focal areas. Other mediums include artificial intelligence, which is used to produce entirely "synthetic" video works and photographs from prompts, bypassing traditional photography methods.
In the narrative woven through Skygolpe's works, layers of meaning fluctuate between the visible and the invisible, the authentic and the synthetic, fostering an ongoing dialogue between reality and perception. The intersection of physical and digital realms is further expanded as augmented and virtual reality are employed to break down the boundaries of the exhibition space even more.
These tools are not merely technological additions but are catalysts for new forms of interaction and immersion, encouraging viewers to transcend their passive roles and become co-creators of the artistic experience.
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VISUAL CONSTRUCTS (series)
This configuration seems to comment on the very act of observation as a performative gesture, transforming the gallery itself into a stage where the viewer becomes part of the exhibit, unwittingly performing under the constant gaze of electronic eyes.
This presentation evokes a multiplicity of interpretations concerning the interplay between surveillance and spectatorship, and the possibility of expanding the gallery space beyond its spatial boundaries to merge with the virtual ones.
The arrangement might reflect on the ubiquitous nature of surveillance in contemporary society, an omnipresent spectator silently recording every movement within the ambit of its lens. The viewers, devoid of their conventional context, are repurposed almost like design objects, their functional form taking on new meaning within the gallery's confines, posing silent queries about the nature of art and observation.
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AI - MORPHIC TECHNOLOGIES (series)
This photographic series emanates from an assemblage of technological components, which, through the power of artificial intelligence, are hybridized to give birth to images that oscillate between the depiction of a dysfunctional object and its form.
Intriguingly, the subjects within these images do not truly exist; they are entirely generated through the capabilities of AI.
The project’s intent is to delve into the paradoxes and potentials of artificial intelligence in technological design, examining the algorithmic processes that culminate in the creation of form, momentarily revealing glimpses and improbabilities of these non-existent entities.
The objective of this endeavor is to unveil the latent and unanticipated repercussions of employing AI processes in the development of installations, evoking a digital reinterpretation of the ready-made.
Through these images, the intricate mechanics underpinning the genesis of shapes are laid bare, as the project endeavors to discern insights into the visualization of these fully AI-generated, non-existent objects.
By incorporating a diverse spectrum of materials, the project aims to showcase the versatility of algorithmic creation, merging technological components with unconventional or discarded materials such as plastic bags, plastic elements, and other generative forms of ambiguous practical utility.
THE ART OF PRINTING (series)
The artwork consists of a collection of printers that photocopy banknotes of various currencies, creating piles of fictional money. The artist's true intention is not so much to produce counterfeit money, but rather to question the meaning of money itself and the ways in which the concept of currency is represented, through which value is created and distributed in a decentralized economy.
In fact, if we observe the work closely, we notice that the photocopied banknotes coming out of the printers arranged in the space are not exactly identical to the originals: they are black and white, there are printing defects, stains, smudges. In other words, the artist intervenes by borrowing the icon of printed paper currency, highlighting the imperfection and uncertainty of monetary value, producing an ideal "multiplication."
Who or what creates value? Is it the central banking system, which controls the issuance of currency, that establishes the value itself, or is it the market, with its demand and supply, that determines it? And how can value be created in a decentralized economy, where money is replaced by cryptocurrencies and transactions occur anonymously and distributedly? The artwork does not answer any of these questions.
Rather, it triggers a feedback loop mechanism in which the abundance of "value" produced contrasts with the actual and impossible exchangeability of banknotes. In a sense, the work is an autonomous production of value, a creation of value as a social and cultural construction, which evolves and transforms over time based on the artist's needs and dynamics. The printers, in fact, are on 24/24 and produce photocopied banknotes continuously for 15 days (the same duration as the exhibition in which they are presented), using the electrical energy of the museum/foundation or gallery that hosts the artwork.
The artwork consists of a collection of printers that photocopy banknotes of various currencies, creating piles of fictional money. The artist's true intention is not so much to produce counterfeit money, but rather to question the meaning of money itself and the ways in which the concept of currency is represented, through which value is created and distributed in a decentralized economy.
In fact, if we observe the work closely, we notice that the photocopied banknotes coming out of the printers arranged in the space are not exactly identical to the originals: they are black and white, there are printing defects, stains, smudges. In other words, the artist intervenes by borrowing the icon of printed paper currency, highlighting the imperfection and uncertainty of monetary value, producing an ideal "multiplication."
Who or what creates value? Is it the central banking system, which controls the issuance of currency, that establishes the value itself, or is it the market, with its demand and supply, that determines it? And how can value be created in a decentralized economy, where money is replaced by cryptocurrencies and transactions occur anonymously and distributedly? The artwork does not answer any of these questions.
Rather, it triggers a feedback loop mechanism in which the abundance of "value" produced contrasts with the actual and impossible exchangeability of banknotes. In a sense, the work is an autonomous production of value, a creation of value as a social and cultural construction, which evolves and transforms over time based on the artist's needs and dynamics. The printers, in fact, are on 24/24 and produce photocopied banknotes continuously for 15 days (the same duration as the exhibition in which they are presented), using the electrical energy of the museum/foundation or gallery that hosts the artwork.
