The Popular Workshop in San Francisco opened The Fall, a solo show by Francesco Igory Deiana on the 27th of September. The Italian born artist created a new body of work continuing and evolving his imagery and concepts. Using wide range of different mediums and techniques, he prepared different kinds of pieces from smaller drawings, paintings, prints or photographs, to sculptures and large size installation. With this diversity and collage of different works, Deiana is trying to show that his work does and doesn’t have a strict structure. The central point of the show is a Tree Sculpture installation, a step further in terms of mediums and genre, as well as the conceptual meaning of the work. The piece is created using his signature bright orange with ball point pen ink clouds of them, and a minimized pole that represents a tree. Deiana is hugely inspired by nature, but he likes to show the elements from nature in a more graphic and artificial way. The big branch or pole in this installation, painted with metallic glare ink, or human head painted the same way, are the perfect examples of this concept.
The walls of the gallery displayed his “flat” works, mostly combining his meticulous ball point ink drawings, with prints, photographs or other elements. Some of the pieces are very balanced, composed geometric drawings, and some are more organic, crude portrait drawings. Conceptually, the geometric drawings are more “design” than a painting, where the clouds are about earth, and the humans are small under the sky. Additionally, the portraits are about man, history, death, and falling down, which works perfect with the title of the show. Both abstract and very graphic, these works can be fully appreciated only when seen in person. That way you can fully notice Deiana’s masterful ball point pen work, hair thin line work, where only a slight difference of the angle or the pressure of a pen tip creates all the needed difference and effect.
The Fall will be on view until October 31, 2013, so make sure you check out this unique body of work if you’re visiting the Bay Area.
Discuss Francesco Igory Deiana here.
