Breaking the Molds: TTOZOI in evolution

“Breaking the Molds: TTOZOI in Evolution” features recent work by the internationally acclaimed duo TTOZOI. Naples-based Stefano Forgione and Pino Rossi have pioneered the use of organic molds to produce paintings. They introduce the molds onto canvases and allow them to spread, in effect allowing the molds to do the painting. Throughout the entire process TTOZOI “conducts” the molds’ progress, introducing factors that change the shape and color of the growth. The duo determines when the molds have reached their aesthetic limit, freezing them in place. As critic Peter Frank, curator of this exhibition, writes, “Natural substances have always provided artists with their materials, and over the last half century artists have been working with nature’s own processes to create art. But TTOZOI combines the old tradition and the new, prompting nature to paint its own paintings. TTOZOI allows nature to participate actively in the current artistic discourse not just as subject but as author. TTOZOI is not just a collaboration between two humans, but a collaboration between two humans and their ecosystem.”