Exsposition "UTILISABLES" Gabriele Corni - Galerie Libertine - Bruxelles

GABRIELE CORNI
USABLE


“The dolls are reflections of our own needs” . Gabriele Corni

Lifeless bodies which at the same time are alive. Usable. Dolls with a precise function – to entirely satisfy their owner in everything. One can select their doll, dress/un-dress her, as they wish. Choose the hair colour, eyes, characteristics and physical features.
Every type of woman exists, all you desires can be fulfilled.

Gabriele Corni presents us with the reality of a display of luxurious products. Perfect. Desirable.
Silent, discreet and beautiful Geishas. Waiting to be chosen, to be used. Ready.

The notion of the woman as an object led to the real objectification of the female body through a substitute. This substitute – the sexual doll, thus became sophisticated, identical in her bodily parts and equipped with audio and physical enabled systems.

Corni presents these clones/ slaves as being lifeless. Here an inversion takes place, the doll object becomes a body object, a cross between human and puppet, plastic and flesh.
Corni enforces a subtle game, confuses the spectator, plays with the ambiguity insinuated by the shapes and colours which come to life in the suggestive light.
The sensitive details convert your attention towards the human aspects, other details towards the pseudo aspects.
The disorientation leads to the manic observation that transforms the masks into faces and the skin into porcelain.

Corni can technically carry out such effects thanks to a series of post production.
He first begins with photography and proceeds to unite the aspects from the human anatomy with those of Japanese dolls. He then holds the elements together, like a smooth sculpture, softening the embodiment, and rendering it extremely pictorial, thus placing this newly created body in an un-definable space.
From frontal views, it takes on a solemn impression, as if representing the Sphinx. When it is held mid torsion, the slowness becomes evident. The pause is a type of suspension that in a similar work, solidifies.
This work of art becomes a sort of container, to hold these “ created guests” for a long period of time.

The definition obtained from these images leads the perfect women to become items of furniture, in every sense of the word, and losing the human aspect. They are refined entities, well displayed, seemingly delicate but with a thick armour. They are untouchable due to their frailty. They should be labelled “handle with care”.
Their bodily presence highlights the emotional absence, assumed elsewhere, far from the onlookers glance and prejudice. The perfection arouses fear and instigates voyeurism, the only way to be in close contact with these ambiguous bodies.
Something clashes.

The sensuousness of the light in contrast to the shadows caused by the natural skin folds staggers ones senses, stimulates eroticism without crossing the limit, however.
Protected by their powerlessness, Gabriele’s “useable” dolls undergo redemption, thanks to their aesthetic perfection which transforms them in symbolic muses.

Notwithstanding the fact that these bodies have arisen to iconic figures, they however possess personal backgrounds which ooze empathically from their images.
The provocative doll is presented almost with certainty while the infantile androgynous figure seems more rigid, closed and tense. Behind both of these models are different pasts, different masters, not by intent but by course of action.
The attempt to balance sensuous and erotic, real and imaginary is presented to each observer with a series of questions relative to their intimacy, personal orderliness, society, morality and ethics.
In the society of beauty, perfection can dazzle and solitude can lead to extreme decisions.

With this project, Gabriele Corni allows us to view the “metaphoric reflections” of those mirrored in their own works, forcing the weaknesses and emotional tensions to rise.
Elisa Schiavina




GABRIELE CORNI

(Bologna, Italy, 1972), currently working and living in Bologna.

On completing his artistic studies, Gabriele developed the technique of oil painting at Norma Mascellani’s art studio where he also developed the skill of composite balance.
Gabriele then went on to experiment with the tri-dimensional, using metallic materials and he began collaborating with the sculptor Silvia Zagni. He then began orientating himself towards photography which led him into the world of bi-dimensional.
In doing this and thanks to the various available post production methods, like digital painting, Gabriele Corni once again returned to his primary subject, that of pictorial expression, which can be accentuated by plasticity.
Gabriele collaborated with the post production expert Giulio G. Pedaci, developing his skills in digital alteration.

Gabriele is currently working as professional advertising photographer at the Carlo Coppitz photographic studio in Bologna. (www.lelecorni.com)
After participating in various collective exhibitions, Gabriele is now holding his first ever solo exhibition in the “Oltre Dimore” gallery, with his project “useable”.

Giulio Pedaci

(Lecce, Italy 1966), currently working and living in Bologna.

Giulio Pedaci, expert in digital post production of images for publishing and advertising purposes has collaborated with Gabriele on the pictorial digital retouching of the “useable” project.
Born in Lecce and brought up in Bologna, Giulio qualified with a degree in painting from the fine Arts Academy of Bologna after studying under the teachings of Professor Concetto Pozzati.
Specialized in digital post production since the launch of the first available post production software, Giulio became manager of the graphics and printing department at “fotolito emiliana Zincografica Felsinea” and manager of the graphics department for the IEI offices in Bologna and Rome.
Giulio has since opened his own studio “Ritoccando” in Bologna and has the highest level of national and international entrepreneurs among his list of clients. (www.ritoccando.com)

Useable – Ready to use thoughts


• Geisha. Artist-Prostitute. Geisha in Japanese is made up of 2 words that mean “Art” and “Person”, with a literal translation which means “artist”. In the Asiatic culture, a mis-interpretation led the Geisha to be identified as a prostitute or a glorious escort.

• Obi. A wide ribbon which is part of the kimono. Its wrapped around the waist and tied in a bow at the back. Geishas wear it lower than at the traditional waistline of Japanese women.


• Colours. Colours stimolate emotional reactions. Certain colours instinctively instigate ancient perceptions. In Gabriele’s “useable dolls”, the predominating colours are Red, white and black and 3 primitive colours: clay, carbon and chalk.
Red: precious, commonly associated as a symbol of power and Egyptians use it to highlight parts of the human body which are naturally red, like the lips and erogenous zones. It is also associated with blood, strength, instinct and passion.
Black: expresses dominance and sensuality, severity and mystery. It’s simply a mix of colours in the absence of light
White: linked to purity and virginity, it conveys a sense of cleanliness and freshness. It is perceived as the colour of serenity and elegance, the colour that numbs all impulses derived from red and black.

• Silicone, life-like, sexual dolls. Descendants of the blow up doll, the new sexual dolls are produced from technological material such as silicone, very similar to the human body and equipped with functional sexual mechanisms.
It is possible to have them personalised before purchasing, choosing additional parts of the anatomy (the anus is not included in the standard doll) and various other accessories. The most sophisticated and life like are those produced in Japan. They are all women, male versions of the doll are not available as of yet.

• Imitation. The Japanese life like dolls are replicas of the female body. Many women turn to surgery to obtain a more stereotyped “perfect” beauty. In this case, who is copying who?

• Perfection and Obsession. In a world where certain traditional aspects of beauty have lost their value and temporary fashion prevails, beauty has become a burden. Perfection is ever more in demand.
In order to obtain this perfection one is prepared to change the original layer, be it living or lifeless. Intellectually or aesthetically, makes no difference. The point of reference is not reachable without the aid of re modelling, substituting or touching-up. You cannot obtain a result without interfering with the primary material, in the attempt to mould into the image of beauty.

• Mask and Face. Every woman that wears make up is wearing a mask. The make up line, under the chin or on the neck, where applied, becomes the border line of the mask. Geishas are women of art and therefore wear very heavy make up in shades of red, white and black. This is a kind of theatrical mask, a shield between their face and the external world. What happens if a mask becomes made up as a human face?

• Omnipotence of man:. Mankind has always proved to have a mania for creative omnipotence; in reality - the conception of pure and perfect race, in pretence – where mythical characters such as Frankenstein and Pinocchio’s “father” Geppetto, dedicated their whole life to creating man, beginning with the lifeless subject.
We cannot resist the temptation to create, but art is one way where creation is possible. One creates to substitute a lack of something, to fill a gap, to express ones desires.

• Alienation and Solitude. Speed, little time, a stack of appointments, forced autonomy. The sinking of the mind and the soul is irreversible. According to Eastern philosophy, technology takes the place of avatar and it devises a way to avoid solitude, manufacturing tri-dimensional substitutes for feelings, which allow us to survive even if alienated.

• Man and Robot. The Robot is a sophisticated machine, capable of carrying out jobs that require physical or mental strength. They become androids when they imitate humans. The creation of cyborgs began with grafting biological evolution with artifical elements . The Robot has developed from simple “workers” to life long companions.

• The creation of woman. And God once said “Man cannot be alone: I want to create a similar being” (Genesis)

• The Male brain. Recent neuro-scientific studies discovered that the male brain once confronted with images of women in a sexual contest, the men perceive the women as objects, activating the area of the brain used to operate implements and dis-activating the area that is connected with empathy, feelings, and desires for the person they see. Believable?

• Subject - Object. In a role game, the subject of affection becomes substituted with useable objects.

• Voyeurism. The desire to observe nudity and erotic scenes from a passive position can be expanded to more explicit atmospheres. Voyeurists can be found in front of the TV, at the cinema, on the train and on the street. The look alone can touch the naked skin without any actual contact, the mind imagines the un-defined and the sex drive is calmed with satisfaction.

• Return of iconography. Gabriele Corni’s useable dolls are similar to the sunbathers depicted in Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’s paintings or the women in Nobuyoshi Araki’s photographs, sublimed by the lifeless forms of these realistic dolls?