Short BIO

NUNZIO PACI, BOLOGNA 1977 – LIVES AND WORKS IN ITALY

NUNZIO PACI IS A VISUAL ARTIST WORKING PRIMARILY THROUGH DRAWING AND PAINTING. HE HAS DEVELOPED A PRACTICE THAT ADDRESSES THEMES RELATED TO SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT, WITH A SPECIFIC EMPHASIS ON ANATOMY AND THE HUMAN-NATURE BOND. HIS WORK HAS BEEN EXHIBITED IN PRIVATE GALLERIES AND INSTITUTIONAL SPACES ACROSS EUROPE, THE UNITED STATES, AND ASIA, AND HAS BEEN FEATURED IN INTERNATIONAL ART PUBLICATIONS SUCH AS JUXTAPOZ, HI-FRUCTOSE, AND BEAUTIFUL BIZARRE MAGAZINE.

PACI HAS BEEN INVITED TO SEVERAL INTERNATIONAL ARTIST RESIDENCY PROGRAMS. IN 2016, HE ATTENDED THE NORDISK KUNSTNARSENTER DALE (NKD, NORWAY), A PROJECT FUNDED BY THE NORWEGIAN MINISTRY OF CULTURE. IN 2019, HE WAS ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE AT LINGNAN UNIVERSITY IN HONG KONG, WHERE HE TAUGHT A SEMESTER-LONG COURSE ON TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES AND DELIVERED A LECTURE TITLED ART AND ANATOMY IN WESTERN CULTURE.

FURTHERMORE, HIS WORK WAS INCLUDED IN THE VOLUME ANATOMY ROCKS: FLESH AND BONES IN CONTEMPORARY ART (CERNUNNOS, 2016), AN ANTHOLOGY OF OVER 60 INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS REINTERPRETING ANATOMY IN CONTEMPORARY ART, AND IN THE ART OF THE UNKNOWN (QUARTO PUBLISHING, 2026), A COLLECTION OF 200 WORKS SPANNING CENTURIES AND CULTURES, CURATED BY AMERICAN AUTHOR S. ELIZABETH. MOST RECENTLY, ONE OF HIS WORKS WAS CHOSEN FOR THE COVER OF DAPHNE FAMA’S UPCOMING NOVEL A DEADLY BLOOMING, PUBLISHED BY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE (NEW YORK, 2027), WHICH EXPLORES FILIPINO FOLKLORE AND FEMININE POWER.

HIS PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS ARE HELD IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS IN ITALY, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, THE NETHERLANDS, DENMARK, NORWAY, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, THE UNITED STATES, CHILE, PUERTO RICO, THE PHILIPPINES, TURKEY, AND NEW ZEALAND.

Statement

NUNZIO PACI (B. 1977) IS AN ITALIAN VISUAL ARTIST WHO LIVES AND WORKS IN BOLOGNA, ITALY. HIS ART-MAKING PROCESS IS MAINLY EXPRESSED THROUGH PAINTING AND DRAWING. PACI HAS DEVELOPED A PRACTICE WHICH IS CONCERNED WITH PHILOSOPHICAL, SCIENTIFIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON ANATOMY AND THE MAN-NATURE RELATIONSHIP.

ECHOING THE FIGURATIVE TRADITION DEEP-ROOTED IN HIS CULTURAL BACKGROUND, HIS IMAGERY IS PERVADED WITH ANCIENT INFLUENCES OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE—ANATOMY, BOTANY, MEDICINE AND TAXIDERMY—MERGED WITH REFERENCES TO THE SPIRITUAL AND THE DREAM SPHERE. THE OBJECT OF HIS RESEARCH IS THE BODY—HUMAN, ANIMAL, VEGETABLE—IN ALL ITS TRANSITIONS: MUTATION AND HYBRIDIZATION, DECLINE AND REGENERATION.

ANATOMY’S FASCINATION IS FOR NUNZIO PACI ANYTHING BUT MACABRE AND FUNEREAL: IT IS, IN CONTRAST, EXERTION AND VITAL TENSION, MUSCLE TISSUE AND FIBERS, APPARATUS, HYBRIDS, GRAFTS, EVOLUTION. IN ILLNESS AND MALFORMATION, HE DOESN’T SPOT THE EVIDENCE OF THE INEVITABLE DECAY AND THE SIGN OF MEMENTO MORI, BUT THE FIGHT AND THE STRATEGY THAT LIFE ITSELF APPLIES TO KEEP ON PERPETUATING THROUGH GENERATIONS.

WITH THIS SOLEMN DEVOTION TO THE NATURAL WORLD AND ITS MANIFESTATIONS, PACI'S WORKS PRESENT VISIONS OF DECAY AND REBIRTH SUFFUSED WITH AN ETHEREAL GLOW. THE DREAMLIKE QUALITY OF HIS PAINTINGS SUGGESTS HOW THE PASSAGE FROM ONE STATE OF BEING TO ANOTHER ALSO INVOLVES A SHIFT OF VIEWPOINT, AND A LEAP OF UNDERSTANDING. HIS FAITHFUL READING OF TANGIBLE DATA, THROUGH THE USE OF A SURREAL AND POETIC LANGUAGE, OFFERS A GLIMPSE INTO ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS AND IMPOSSIBLE PERSPECTIVES, IN THE CONSTANT EFFORT TO REDUCE, WITH AN INTRICATE WEAVE OF ILLUSION AND DECEPTION, THE (UNSOLVABLE) DISTANCE BETWEEN ARTIFICE AND NATURALISM.

HIS SCOPE OF WORKS WITH PENCIL AND OIL PAINTS CREATES, BY THE INTERTWINING OF LINE AND COLOUR, DETAILED AMALGAMATIONS OF PLANTS, HUMANS AND ANIMALS IN WHAT HE DESCRIBES AS AN INTENT TO “EXPLORE THE INFINITE POSSIBILITIES OF LIFE, IN SEARCH OF A BALANCE BETWEEN REALITY AND IMAGINATION”. THIS DELICATE BALANCE OF ANALYSIS WITH ELEGANCE LENDS HIS WORKS A SENSE OF THE ROMANTIC AND THE SUBLIME.

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