Angelo Formica was born in Milazzo in 1975 but since 1997 he lives in Milan. In 2009 he began exhibiting at the Galleria Toselli with portofranco artists. On June 30, 2010 he always inaugurates at the Galleria Toselli his first personal exhibition with collages born in Sicily and grown in Milan.

For Lucia Grassiccia, writer and art critic, “The attempt to preserve his memory might be one of the most significant aspects of Angelo Formica’s work, featured by a range of easily recognizable elements that have been conceived to stimulate the senses without hiding behind the intricate maze of an artificial subjective reality. Gluing things together is a definitive gesture, you can’t go back without producing any damage—time, iconography, the look. And yet in these collages, nothing is stationary, but everything conveys an encounter. More contemplations leading to the same juxtaposition, at the same time. To play, to risk. It’s a matter of strategy, luck, and colors. Symbols from another time, courts and social classes made known through history books or from the natural kingdom somehow end up in our hands.”

According to Naima Morelli, arts writer and curator, “Formica works with collage, creating unexpected associations of meaning. Although his art can look ironic at first, his work is deeply poetic. The complex – sometimes impenetrable – theories of conceptual art are very far from his aesthetic. Formica’s collages can be appreciated by any viewer approaching them without preconceptions. In spite of having many layers of interpretation, these works are enjoyable on an immediate level – you just need to dive into the mellifluous colors and the unconventional compositions. This is visual art of the synesthetic kind; it almost feels like you can taste and smell it. Formica’s art practice can certainly be identified as peculiarly Italian by an external observer. Nevertheless, there is no exoticism in his vision, but a true interest in the grassroots of South Italian traditions and mindset. Far from Milan’s stern Duomo and Rome’s monumental churches indeed, Southern Italy carries a unique legacy of culture, which drastically differentiates itself from the rest of Italy. Here the sacred pervades all dimensions of life. You can find a sacred element in food, games and traditional rituals, as a sort of widespread spirituality.”

Finally, as noted by the gallerist Franco Toselli, “What’s new is embedded in the thought of the artist who, while mixing up cards and collages, creates combinations of forms and colors aimed at evoking the colorful geometries of the young Alighiero Boetti. That’s how, through playing cards, a martyr can visit a jack of spades and vice versa, a queen can hold a cannoli in her arms and then angels, dragons, demons, and other mellow characters can meet up with a renovated imagery pivoted on the playfulness of a secret harmony.”

 (photo by Salvo Bombara)