Ex Elettrofonica presents, at its stand at Artissima 2023 in the Disegni (Drawings) section, curated by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, The Belle of The Ball, a new project by Sergio Breviario. Accompanied by a scenic installation, the exhibit features a series of collages and HB pencil drawings begun in 2015.

Created in a space and time that the artist himself defines as a sort of zero time, erasing the idea of reality, they show a far, far world, with undefined borders. The scenes tell stories of awkward knightly characters, supposed nobles engaged in duels and courtship, and suspenseful scenes full of romanticism. Although they feature pure geometry, these figures are reminiscent of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century portraiture, and are all beautifully dressed with splendid ruffs drawn with the toy from the 1960s, the Spirograph, invented by the English engineer Denys Fisher, which produces mathematical curves of infinite variety, technically known as hypotrochoids and epitrochoids. The artist uses these tools to create crowns, ruffs, embroidery and jewellery, as well as natural elements like plants, flowers, and clouds.

Shading is very prominent in the works, drawn in extremely precise and intense graphite, fading away as it spreads across the paper. The shading turns the pages into a limbo, a bright empty space that can recognise depth. Another compositional element is the corners, which are presented in nice elongated triangles created with black tissue paper. The black triangles sometimes form the arms and legs of the figures, and other times identify the body. The final components of the collages are circular cut-outs of digital prints, images taken by the artist in the Carrara quarries that depict the robots used to work marble. These robots, powered off and motionless, have a very melancholy look. Some shots have double exposure and simulate the effect of movement.