The series entitled Kult brings together a set of composite pieces mixing different references of popular culture, fine art as well as comics and cartoon. Each painting of the series Kult consists of one silhouette filled in with a main character, who originates from comic culture, and three additional layers, which are references to the history of art. The importance of the main silhouette can be found in Speedy Graphito’s own oeuvre. The central silhouette takes up the totemic figure that the artist created in 1984. As the artists states: „It symbolizes, the man, the artist, walking towards his future, nourished by the external elements which allowed him to build himself.“ Once again at the center of the attention, is the human and his individual history, shaped by the impressions of the outside world. Not only metaphorically speaking but also literally, the silhouette is positioned in the middle of the canvas. The silhouette is not always easy to decode, yet it is contained in each of the canvases – sometimes more obvious, sometimes more subtle.
„ A cult is a set of practices that pay homage to a living being, mythical, real, inanimate or phenomenon to which one recognizes a dimension of excellence or sacredness.“
Speedy Graphito, 2020.
The multi-layered paintings thus involve an extensive creative process. The artist treats the artistic and cultural references from the different epochs like sacred instruments which he integrates delicately and intentionally into his well-conceived art works. Speedy Graphito’s mental network of characters, images and genres of art and cultural history is enormous, here and there an internet research is of assistance. These visual references to key art works in history permeate different eras and operate without any prejudice, like the visible links of a timeless affiliation.
Speedy Graphito cultivates a very holistic conception of the role of art in history, to which he pays homage to in his art works. Human existence is based on the memory and achievements of predecessors.
Tania di Brita
Artworks
Rautistrasse 11
8047 Zurich
Switzerland
Only on appointment
T +41 79 301 11 37