Oscar Giaconia at MAC in Lissone: on display MOCKUPAINT, a journey between painting, artifice and metamorphosis

The Lissone Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) opens MOCKUPAINT, a solo exhibition by Oscar Giaconia (Milan, 1978) curated by Stefano Raimondi, on Oct. 26, 2024. On view through Jan. 26, 2025, MOCKUPAINT is a new project celebrating the Milanese artist’s long career and his ongoing exploration of the expressive possibilities of painting. Giaconia, who has always grappled with complex themes such as artifice, metamorphosis, and the tension between reality and fiction, presents works that transform painting into a window to artificial universes.

The title of the exhibition, MOCKUPAINT, is a fusion of the term “mock-up” - meaning a realistic model or representation - and “paint,” meaning painting, the artist’s favorite medium. Through the mingling of simulated and pictorial reality, Giaconia constructs a visual journey that investigates the liminal zones between the real and the fictional, engaging the visitor in an immersive experience that challenges the boundaries of perception.

A path between installations and “cinematic” paintings

MOCKUPAINT is an exhibition that is structured in intentionally heterogeneous and seemingly independent exhibition spaces designed to convey a sense of disorientation and wonder. Visitors will find themselves immersed in environments that seem to recreate abandoned film sets or construction site sets, made from raw materials and manipulated according to an aesthetic that recalls both the industrial and restoration worlds. In this labyrinthine journey, the artist stages images and situations that evoke his reflections on themes such as metamorphosis and artifice.

Among the most significant works in the exhibition is the new series NEMAT PUPPET FROG (2024), where tropicalized iron frames designed by architect Matteo Ghidoni frame Giaconia’s paintings, exploring the relationship between the natural and the artificial. The choice of materials, including silicone, vulcanite and neoprene, characterizes the artist’s works, making clear the influence of artificial synthesis in his artistic practice. In these works, Giaconia is inspired by the words of biologist D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, for whom “all things are what they are because they have become that way,” alluding to the natural and artificial evolution of forms.

A journey between past and present

As part of MOCKUPAINT, Giaconia brings to the stage some of his most celebrated installations, created throughout his career and then reworked through painting. Prominent among them is Calabiyau (2018), a monumental sculpture that simulates an unusual taxidermy: a huge sewer pipe, an element at once grotesque and fascinating, drawing attention to themes such as urban decay and the cycle of artificial life.

Another significant installation is the video Sexual Clumsiness (2019), a 16mm short film documenting the behind-the-scenes of a prosthetic makeup session. This technical and visual choice allows Giaconia to delve into the dynamics of the artificial body and its construction process, a theme that reflects her interest in created and recreated identities. The video and sculptures are accompanied by a wide selection of paintings from different periods, including Parasite Soufflé (2023), U.P.D. (2020) and Dad Head Playset (2024), each exploring concepts such as identity, isolation and the body as a territory of conflict and contamination.

The exhibition was designed in collaboration with architect Maria Marzia Minelli and takes the form of an open construction site, where the concept of exhumation and excavation is central. In Giaconia’s vision, the construction site is not only a place of construction, but also of decomposition and reconstruction of images and identity, where every element, from concrete plinths to metal elements, is manipulated to create a visual narrative between the warlike and the surgical. Construction and industrial elements, including fences and metal materials, contribute to an atmosphere that becomes increasingly evocative and surreal.

The entire exhibition space is permeated by the sound installation Kanthèlios, a composition specially created by Steve Piccolo, an artist and musician with whom Giaconia has long collaborated. The sound track is conceived as a “sung construction site,” a kind of soundscape that transforms the museum into an environment under constant construction, amplifying the idea of a reality in constant metamorphosis and underscoring the scenographic effect of the installation.

On the occasion of MOCKUPAINT, a bilingual catalog will be published edited by Claudia Santeroni, studio manager of OG STUDIO and exhibition manager of the exhibition. The catalog, published by Lubrina Bramani Editore, includes critical texts by Stefano Raimondi, Simone Menegoi and Claudio Kulesko.

The exhibition, with free admission, can be visited on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Information: phone 039 7397368 - 039 7397202, e-mail museo@comune.lissone.mb.it, website www.museolissone.it

Who is Oscar Giaconia

Oscar Giaconia, born in Milan in 1978, is known for his investigation into the transformative potential of painting and for his interdisciplinary approach that embraces various languages and materials. His works, often characterized by a fusion of pictorial and installation elements, explore concepts such as the “monster,” the “parasite,” and the “stand-in,” key words in his practice that aim to transform the pictorial medium into a form of symbolic autopsy of reality.

Over the years, Giaconia has exhibited in major venues, including GAMeC in Bergamo, Monitor Roma, Fondazione Coppola in Vicenza, the National Museum of Natural History in Malta and BACO Arte Contemporanea in Bergamo. Through the use of synthetic and in-organic materials, such as silicone and para-rubber, the artist develops an aesthetic strongly influenced by science fiction and post-industrial culture, creating works that sit on the border between object and organism.

Selected solo exhibitions include: 2024 The Pig Pit, The Drawing Hall, curated by Elena Forin, Bergamo; 2023 Parasite Soufflé, Monitor Rome; The Kitbasher, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza; 2021 CRYPTOZOOGODEMICHET, Monitor, Lisbon; 2020 BHULK, Monitor, Rome; 2019 Hoysteria, curated by Sara Fumagalli and Valentina Gervasoni, GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo; 2017 WUNDERKAMMER N.1 | OVERMAN, Thomas Brambilla Gallery, Bergamo; 2016 GREEN ROOM, curated by Stefano Raimondi and Mauro Zanchi, BACO Arte Contemporanea, Palazzo della Misericordia, Bergamo; 2013 AYE-AYE, National Museum of Natural History, Mdina - Malta; 2012 ALEA, curated by Stefano Raimondi, Thomas Brambilla Gallery, Bergamo.

Oscar Giaconia at MAC in Lissone: on display MOCKUPAINT, a journey between painting, artifice and metamorphosis

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