“Filippo Staniscia exhibits a particular type of Art, artistic revivals and subjects taken from other people's works, to blend them, mix them, superimpose them, one with the other. But what does drive the artist to compete in a "monologue" with the masters of the past such as: Modigliani, De Chirico, Picasso, and so on? It could be "the need" to communicate, to seek a dialogue, to create "new" human conditions that can return "images from the past" filtering them in "simple purity". It is no coincidence, in my opinion, that Staniscia manages to bring together the backgrounds of his characters, of his magical chessboard, by means of modular but never repetitive solutions, and where the "characteristic features", the "utopian portraits", in which the community identifies itself, are hidden. The Staniscian production carefully meditates, but with prudence, to outline a biographical narrative, investigating the mystery of the "mirror", dismantling the idea of the Wharolian type icon.
It is quite coherent to a filtering message of the contemporary image, it wants to "teach" using the mind and by means of "ambiguous figures" the need to see beyond what we are and what we were. His Art History, his masters become interpreters or, better, "acting" parts in his works: so that acting with always varied acts, the artist develops a meta-theatrical language by which we can be part o his narrative expression. Digital Art, used by the artist and media tool for preference, finally also becomes an interesting educational tool helping us to understand the different "stylistic compromises" that each of his works communicates.
Gabriele Romeo, historian and art critic,
curator of "Bolivia Plurinational State"
at the 57th Venice Art Biennale
