Art.Base - Adamo Macri
Macri works with photography, video, sculpture, drawing and performance art. Distinctive themes interweave in his work such as the human condition, sexuality, identity and contamination. They are considered a set of commandments. He describes his creative process simulating the act of food preparation, fashioned through the amalgamation of disparate elements. He uses different mediums in a systematic order to arrive at the end result. He compares this methodical approach to stages of procreation.
Macri deals with the codependency of surface and content and the equal value of both. The example he uses to describe this concept is based on the relationship between a film and the poster created to promote it. A movie poster is a single still initiating the viewer’s imagination, prompting formulized imagery based on their interests and expectations. The outcome in actually viewing the movie can result in disappointment. The relationship between film and poster can be likened to the relationship between the container and the contained, the skin and the viscera.
Macri works with the idea of film and its use of multiple stills to evoke motion and evolution. The occurrence of evolution is also symbolic of the human condition. Every individual’s state of being changes significantly during the course of one single day, due to the evolutionary nature of the human psyche and the constant adaptation to environment and mood. As a result, what one considers palatable in the morning is not necessarily deemed appealing in the afternoon or the evening. The route traced by these transitions is what he refers to as a “drill”, epitomized by his slogan, “If you catch me at the right time, I might be in the mood.”
Abstract art involves complex layering and facets. Macri claims that each aspect of the work must be conceptualized in order for it to be distinct and hold a true personalized view point. One very important facet to understand is his unique standpoint on sculpture. The idea alters the perception of the tangible object. Sculpture as a “3D Event”, the practice of anti-sculpture. It is based upon perceiving sculpture as occurrence and not static presence. “An ephemeral three-dimensional occurrence, located at a specific point, which conjures up atemporal art.” This reality is achieved at the final stage in his methodical process, the photographic segment. “The camera places all objects in the past tense. In an instant, sculpture has vanished and a new reality is created”. Ultimately the final result must represent Macri’s most important aspect of his art, the resonating image.
Adamo Macri
Published January 2009
Art.Base
