A thin ray of diaphanous light runs across the entire room, caressing every little detail contained in the works of Alessandro Piangiamore (Enna, 1976). “La polvere ci mostra che la luce esiste (Dust shows us that light exists), the title of the exhibition set up at the Repetto Gallery in Lugano, refers to a chapter contained in the essay by the French philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman “è La Connaissance accidentelle. Apparition et disparition des images” (Flammarion, 1998). The exhibition, open until June 26, 2026, shows works by the artist such as sculptures, installations, and video art, some of which are unpublished. As a whole, they are inserted with the intention of giving shape to what lies at the limit between the intangible and the concrete.
Alessandro Piangiamore, “La polvere ci mostra che la luce esiste”, 2026, installation view, photo credits Daniele De Lonti, Vincenzo Miranda, courtesy Repetto Gallery, Lugano
The installation “Il cacciatore di polvere” (The dust hunter) starts the artistic path: it is a carpet of black volcanic sand where the artist has placed glass fruits entitled “After – life”, visual references to candied fruit. «This is a work – the artist explains – that recalls my homeland, Sicily. It is a seductive, mysterious place, wrapped by the mystery of multiple cultures and the people who inhabited it. The crystal objects evoke candied fruit: the process of preserving fruit, cancels the decay, thus preserving its end. It is also a clear reference to Eden, a place surrounded by meanings linked to the Catholic doctrine». The exhibition perfectly captures the aura of cultural mysticism left by Greek, Norman and Byzantine cultures that have permeated the island for centuries and that revive here thanks to Piangiamore’s creations.
Alessandro Piangiamore, “La polvere ci mostra che la luce esiste”, 2026, installation view, photo credits Daniele De Lonti, Vincenzo Miranda, courtesy Repetto Gallery, Lugano
The narrative then continues with the series “Ieri Ikebana”, large panels proportionate to the artist in which the volcanic black returns as a place of conservation. «These – the artist continues – are works made of concrete, for me contemporary marble. Ikebana, defined as the art of cut flowers, is actually configured as an aesthetic and spiritual discipline, in which the compositional act coincides with a path of internal formation and harmonization». The black color, deliberately inserted in the exhibition, is nothing more than an antithesis to the brilliance of white. Light deforms in every detail, in every infinite grain of dust, reaching its climax in the work entitled “Te lo prometto” (I promise you), the starting point for the beginning of the exhibition: a video work lasting one hour and forty-four seconds, consisting of fifty-six scenes, depicting the artist’s fingers attempting, for an instant, to capture the bright rainbow. Andrea Cortellessa, literary critic and historian of literature, defines the light reflection in the catalogue as: «a polychrome iridescent flame», an illusory hope of impalpable contact with a flame in continuous movement.
Alessandro Piangiamore, “After-life”, 2026, photo credits Roberto Apa, courtesy Repetto Gallery, Lugano
The work is accompanied by the evocative sound of volcanic song that loudly wraps the entire gallery. Equally evocative is the presence of birds in the triptych “Qualche uccello si perde nel cielo” (Some birds get lost in the sky): a work that reflects on the concept of opposition and antithesis. «During the day – the artist continues – we do not perceive the stars in the sky while at night we cannot observe birds». The play of opposites is also recalled by the choice of colors: pink, reminiscent of Sicilian sunsets, contrast with the dark shades of the works described above. The physical and persistent presence of light is evoked, by blown crystal lamps “Giove pittore di farfalle” (Jupiter, the butterfly painter). Suspended between dream and reality, the tubular sculptures borrow the title from the sixteenth-century work by the Renaissance painter Dosso Dossi: the protagonist of the painting, Jupiter, is portrayed in the act of painting butterflies in flight.
Alessandro Piangiamore, “Il cacciatore di polvere” e “After – life”, photo credits Daniele De Lonti, Vincenzo Miranda, courtesy Repetto Gallery, Lugano
Piangiamore underlines: «They have a very short life and are characterised by a rapid, ephemeral transit that is linked to the entire exhibition». This is a manifestation that allows, as in the work “I will promise you”, to touch with your hand the delicacy of the light, reflected for a single moment on the surface of the objects. The stars, the constellations imprinted in the sky, allow man to imagine with open eyes, a never-ending dream, in an instant suspended between heaven and earth. Closed your eyes, what will be left? What will remain of all that infinite sky of dust and sounds, of memories and desires? Perhaps, it would be enough to imagine, to never lose the shine of every moment. The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale, containing texts by Julien Fronsacq, Chief Curator of MAMCO Genève, and Andrea Cortellessa.
Info:
Alessandro Piangiamore. La polvere ci mostra che la luce esiste
21/03/2026 – 26/06/2026
Repetto Gallery
Via Clemente Maraini, 24 –Lugano (Switzerland)
www.repettogallery.ch
Carlotta Thione (Cuorgnè, 1999), is a Contemporary Art Historian and editorial collaborator of several magazines. She is also the author of texts and critical insights for exhibitions and moderator of cultural events. Her interests focus not only on contemporary art, but also on Italian songwriting.
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