Alessandro Gallo “For Some Reason”

Jonathan LeVine Gallery

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Jonathan LeVine Gallery presents For Some Reason, a series of new works by Italian artist Alessando Gallo in what will be his second solo exhibition at the gallery.

‘For some reason’ is an idiom used to acknowledge when something exists despite the fact that it defies explanation and perfectly characterizes Gallo’s uncanny ceramic sculptures. His impeccably crafted hybrid creatures with human bodies and animal heads stand approximately two feet tall and question mankind’s relationship with the natural world, as well as our need to postulate a sense of logic when it otherwise appears to be missing.

Gallo’s mixed-media process is rooted in realism and he begins by photographing a model from multiple angles. The resulting photographs are then used in conjunction with images from animal wildlife books as references while sculpting. He adorns his mutant species with clothing, tattoos and other attributes of typical city-dwellers, and positions them within mundane human circumstances, such as standing in an elevator or taking out the garbage. The title of Gallo’s 2014 exhibition, Strani Incontri (Strange Encounters), is a term he continues to use when referring to his surreal subjects and artistic process. He describes, “I find myself invested in unexpected combinations that are strange or surprising even to me and to the viewer facing my work.”

By placing his compositions within the minutia of daily life Gallo views his work as psychological portraits that embark upon themes of alienation, boredom and loneliness. Whether originally derived from nature or culture, his characters effectively embodying the values and vices of human nature.

Alessandro Gallo was born in 1974 in Genoa, Italy. He is currently based in Genoa, Italy and London, United Kingdom. After studying Law at the University of Genoa, Gallo did a foundation course at Saint Martin’s College of Art in London followed by a BA at Chelsea School of Art, graduating in 2002. While in college studying painting he began experimenting with digital photography and manipulated images to create scenes of animals in familiar city settings. By 2005, he had transitioned into digitally making hybrids and decided to give his creatures a physical presence by sculpting them from clay. Gallo and his anthropomorphic characters have received widespread popularity in Europe, with his works being featured in the 237th Annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. In 2012, he received a first place grant from the Virginia A. Foot Foundation.