Is it possible to make graffiti characterized by geometrics and rationalist aesthetic communicate with the Baroque frescoes of a Roman palace of the ‘600?
That’s what the Roman visual artist Greg Jager tried to do with Crossing (and made it well). Feel Desain had already had the pleasure of chatting with him a few months ago: if missed, watch the interview here.
The occasion to put himself to the test with this challenge was the exhibition The Architectura Eloquentia, a collective project in which Jager presented Crossing, a cycle of murals in which he tries to investigate the theme of sedimentation, a topic that influences and characterizes strongly the city of Rome.
The visual artist challenged with the frescos of Giacinto and Ludovico Gimignani present in the rooms of Palazzo Cavallerini Lazzaroni, a splendid example of Roman Baroque built by the architect Giovanni Antonio De Rossi and venue of the exhibition.
The palace is an overlap of structural interventions that spans the centuries and reaches the architectural one of Mario Fiorentino dating back to the 1950s.
It is this evident layering of different stories, people and aesthetics that guided Jager to work on the concept of “crossing” (in graffiti slang: cover a painting with another painting).
Specifically, some interventions are light and reveal the Giacinto and Ludovico Gimignani frescoes, still visible under the layer of white paint. But in other cases the interventions are heavier and more dramatic, as if they wanted to hide rather than reveal.
The exhibition was set up during 2 days of workshops together with the Multimedia Arts & Design students of Rufa – Rome University of Fine Arts, supervised by Caterina Tomeo, digital arts curator and professor.
The exhibition is open to public until September 10th at Contemporary Cluster Palazzo Cavallerini Lazzaroni, via dei Barbieri 7 (Rome, Italy).
Ph: Giorgio Benni
