The italian artist Simone Filippo (*1996) shows in "Heroine" his latest series of unique acrylic works on paper. These are an attempt to de-digitalize a working process that the artist has appropriated using software such as Photoshop. The hard edges and soft gradients are reminiscent of low-res textures applied to simple polygons; a foundation of video games that has survived in the form of "indie retro" in today's industry. Strangely symmetrical faces, allusions to games and anime imagery are the main sources of inspiration for these alienated figures and decontextualized monsters.

 

Simone Filippo's artistic practice is mainly focused on the themes of post-internet, loneliness and para-social relationships: the interactions based on images and the alienation from real feelings. Here he is particularly interested in the way these phenomena affect personal development, sexual desire and depressive episodes in adolescence.

 

Oil painting serves Filippo as a specific, historically charged medium, although he repeatedly resorts to acrylic paint for works on paper. Here, airbrush painting serves as a common technique. Often, a sense of nostalgia for early internet communities and anime music videos becomes a valuable source of inspiration to build bridges to the people who are to be addressed or encouraged to share.

 

Filippo graduated from HEAD Geneva (2019) and ECAL Lausanne (2021) and won the ECAL Lausanne prize in 2021. He also won the 2021 Cities Conference Cultural Scholarship to Cairo and in 2020 the Cobertizo residency in Mexico City.

 

Simone Filippo lives and works in Neuchatel (CH).

 

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