Diego Randazzo - Anni di lavoro

Years of work - diptych (from the Canovacci series)
layers of oil paint, eco-thinners and medium on canvas used for cleaning brushes, 75x50x2 cm
2026

It is a work that develops starting from two cleaning cloths (rags). Devices that hold various materials such as fluids, liquids, dirt, moisture, grease, color but at the same time witnesses of memories, repeated gestures and rituals. Common objects that have been used repeatedly to clean brushes soaked in oil paint and various diluents. They are layers that become the artwork and the support of the work itself.

The meta-linguistic nature of the research is plainly stated and explicit, but media deception lingers around the corner and substantiates itself in refined ploys that, at first glance, echo the refined trompe-l’œil technique. Indeed, it is within the great tradition of trompe-l’œil that we can find the first traces of the fascinating painterly tension between illusion and reality.

In this diptych, sharpening the sight, we realize that the fabric weave (striped and checkered) is peculiar to the most popular rags on the market; think of Ikea rags. Meanwhile the folds, shadows, hem and buttonholes, at the bottom of the diptych, are painted by hand and thus the result of the artist's skill and intuition.

Ig: https://www.instagram.com/diego__randazzo/
web site: www.diegorandazzo.com

bio artista:
Diego Randazzo (Milano 1984) lives between Milan and Belluno. He completed his secondary education at the Liceo Artistico di Brera and earned a degree in Cultural Heritage Sciences with a thesis in ‘Istituzioni di regia’ at the University of Milan. His work, articulated across various media, focuses on some of the main themes of visual culture: the experience of the image, with all its emotional, evocative, anthropological and social components; the devices of looking, which often become object/subject of the work; the archaeology of media, understood as an investigation into the technological origins of the modern and contemporary gaze, the gaze of the machine, updated with the latest innovations (from algorithm to operative images); the dimension of storytelling; immersion or – conversely – the estrangement produced by the relationship with the medium. His works are present in public and private collections. Finalist in various contemporary art prizes (The Gifer Festival, Premio Cramum, Arte Laguna, Combat Prize, Premio Ora, Arteam Cup) in 2023 he won the first prize of the Yicca art prize and received an Honorable Mention of the Jury at Insideart Magazine's Talent Prize. In 2024 his installation #KIDS, tribute to the tragedy of the Little Martyrs of Gorla and permanent work of Casa della Memoria in Milan, was included in the public art mapping project realized by Mudec in Milan. He began addressing the issues of algorithms as early as 2020 with the project ‘Immagini Simili’ – at the ADD-art Gallery, curated by Bianca Trevisan – up to today, through the study of AI as a tool for visual research and social investigation.