Mario Loprete

“A man does not choose to be an artist. It is the art that takes possession of man,” says Italian artist Mario Loprete. Wherever he roams, his artist brain is constantly alive “looking for the colors on the palette of my soul.” Motivated by his own pleasure in looking, the artist excels at communicating pictorially. Although he names painting as his first love, his sculptural gestures offer a synthesis of human experience. Loprete’s personal filters on life refined by years of research and experimentation communicate a profound play of form and function. His latest series of works in cement is a cause of great satisfaction to the seasoned maker. “Looking at my work over the last 10 years, I realized that there was semantics and semiotics in my visual discourse,” albeit one which lacked the adequate supports. Reinforced concrete, as used by the Romans over two thousand years ago (in amphitheaters, bridges and roads conquering the ancient and modern world) now lends a feel of modernity to Loprete’s work. For this artist, concrete personifies the modern man. Loprete’s move into concrete sculptural works, often incorporating everyday found items such as the artist’s own clothing, plaster and resins, fashions hangable artworks referencing the urban environment. “My life, my DNA, my memories remain cemented inside, transforming those who look at the works into a post-modern archaeologist who studies finds of urban archeology,” is how Mario breaks it down. Influences by his travels to urban city centers in Milan, Amsterdam, Basel and Rome – much of this work responds to billboards and large-scale advertising, draws from the culture of boys and the notion of human beings trapped inside “the Matrix.”  He has a new verve for military camouflage canvas and is set on becoming the richest centenarian artist on the Planet by 2068.

http://www.marioloprete.com