Simon Iurino

Simon Iurino
CYANOTYPES

Simon Iurino born in 1986 in Bolzano, Italy shows for the 9th edition of Carte Blanche called CYANOTYPES recently finished, newer shown before works and site specific installations.

From Cyanotypes on paper, to big scale artworks on textiles to smaller ones with letter cubes and filament we will look at a harmonious overview of the artists oeuvre.

Iurino often expresses himself through sculpture, painting and installation and is particularly interested in the intersections where different categories such as sculpture and architecture meet and overlap.

The assembly of prefabricated metal structures allows the artist to recontextualise standard materials and modules, altering their aesthetics and create new spatial configurations.

An important element of Simon Iurino’s sculptures, both large and small is the usage of industrial materials such as copper tubes or extruded ceramic pipes, the sculptures are bent, twisted and snaked upwards through ceramic silkscreens, enamels and oxides,

With his expansive installation, Simon Iurino sets up a walk-on stage that explores and artistically questions the relationship between sculpture, architecture and exhibition display. Industrially produced materials and modules such as metal frames, which the artist often finds in DIY stores and uses in industrially prescribed standard dimensions, are examined with regard to their aesthetic development possibilities and re-contextualised in the artistic process. In this way, Iurino examines the relationship between everyday objects and works of art in the tradition of Minimal Art and, not least, casts a critical eye on art as an operating system.

Using the now anachronistic technique of cyanotype, a photographic process that was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2018, Iurino fixes materials such as fabrics or nets. Cyanotype, also known as blue print or iron blue print, is an old photographic process with typical cyan blue hues. The English expression “blue print”, a first design in architecture comes from this technique used for this purpose to reproduce plans since 1870.

Artistically, this technique was always somewhat on the sidelines. For a long time it was not counted among the noble photographic printing processes, which is emblematic of Simon Iurino’s artistic practice. The process has a relatively long development time, but does not require a darkroom, as the ink, which is soaked in a chemical solution, is not used. The image carrier, soaked in a chemical solution, is directly exposed to the sun; the image carrier becomes the content of the image.

These artworks on display at the main common area at the Hotel Aurora premises stands out through their formal rigor and turns the order of everyday things upside down, so that a new, defunctionalised form becomes visible.

Simon Iurino’s artistic practice oscillates between walk-in sculpture and the inherent display. The history of a site can affect the form or material of the object. Likewise, the title may describe the concept or external circumstances may affect aesthetic choices. Materiality also plays an important role for the artist

Iurino, who studied textual sculpture with Heimo Zobernig at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, explores space for its potential and invites new encounters with our immediate surroundings.

Iurinos objects are strongly influenced by the process of their creation: the testing of material combinations and production methods. Material and scale allow these works to connect to the space that surrounds us. In their simplicity, immediacy and usability, the works bring out the complexity of structures and forms that are familiar to us.

This space is dedicated to showcasing contemporary artistic perspectives, offering both local and international artists the opportunity to exhibit their work through a hybrid format: an online virtual gallery alongside a physical exhibition space located within Aurora.