Do you know those moments when you finally manage to stretch out on the sofa after a day of work and the only effort you can indulge in is moving your finger up and down on the screen of your phone, looking for some content that manages to entertain you without requiring too much effort? Well, it was just one of those days. I was scrolling through posts on Instagram without paying particular attention to what the algorithm was proposing, when suddenly there it was, the announcement that would turn my day around: The LAW – The Local Artist Window gallery was looking for candidates for a group exhibition. The title of the exhibition had already convinced me to participate: ‘Diversity is the Key’. It was under this cry that the owner MOMO, a well-known visual artist in the field of street art in Zurich, had decided to gather as many talents, all with different backgrounds and styles, for a choral exhibition.
I wasted no time and immediately put my phone aside and grabbed my computer to write an e-mail to MOMO and applied for the exhibition, in the hope that she would accept my application. The idea of taking part in such a project was indeed a great opportunity not only to show my work, but also to get to know and compare myself with other artists and to gather ideas.
I don’t know whether the so-called Law of Attraction, according to which positive thoughts can attract positive experiences into a person’s life, is the biggest hoax of the century. One of those theories that occasionally become trendy to staff the speeches of life coaches or to fill the posts of motivational pages on Instagram: it worked for me this time. I was confident that MOMO would grant my request because I felt that I was already part of that initiative: not for a matter of presumption, but because ‘diversity’ is really the common thread that binds all my work and I truly believe that it is what makes us beautiful, unique, special. We are all a bit of monsters, aren’t we?
A few days later, the confirmation email from MOMO arrived. I chose to take part in the exhibition with one of my latest works, ‘At the Bottom of the Sea’. If I had been told that an architect who grew up in Italy and that was adopted by Switzerland would one day exhibit with the likes of Boogie, One Truth Bros and MOMO, I would never have believed it. But instead…
The exhibition was opened on June 14th 2024: a very exciting day. An unforgettable moment was when my wife Claudia asked my daughter to point out what her daddy’s design was. She, without any hesitation, determined and convinced of her choice, pointed her finger in the direction of my painting and said ‘That one!
What do I take home from this experience? Certainly to have understood how other artists work, how they master styles and techniques, how I can make them my own and possibly reuse them by discussing with them or studying the painting in detail, trying to go backwards in the creation process. All this makes me aware of how my art is not yet fully mature, but I feel quite determined to continue along my path, which I hope will one day lead to an exhibition of my own. Maybe, who knows, in The LAW Gallery!
All Photos by Raymond Grote