catelloo: the Facade of the Faceless

catelloo – 3D and Digital Artist based in Naples, Italy

“European still lifes have never looked so cool, especially when the adept, digital-world-shaper Catelloo injects his faceless humanoids into their beloved contexts. Catelloo Gragnaniello from Naples, Italy, has a specialty, texturized alien textiles, full sized plaster mannequins with laser smooth chopped faces, and a knack for color complementarity that isn’t easily repeated. 

Demonstrating a grasp of art history, Catelloo invades the mundane by adding his models into recognizable high-art scenarios to renew their traditional perspectives, which provide a reordered locus for fresh  conversation. Catelloo has mastered light and shadow as well as surfaces, using painterly techniques such as tenebrism to place emphasis on glossy models… 

…Overall, Catelloos’ technique could be classified as Neo-purism due to how he makes simple components important and justifies their necessity. His purity of shapes and forms with their understated but vibrant colors allow his Malvichian characters to show themselves off in his mysterious and wild third dimension.” 

This awesome text is from an article by A T Wilkinson for Visual Atelier 8, 2019. 

Now if you have made it to this point I want to thank you. I’ve always struggled to talk or write about my work as I’ve been mostly silent and shy getting things done. I’ve passed the last four to five years for the most part developing my vision and generating a background narrative behind my artworks, but I think that this is a good moment to unveil a bit of what’s behind it. 

I tended to hide or delete facial expressions in my work from the start. I’ve always focused on expressing emotion and feelings through shapes, colors, body language and lights. All conveyed from works that feature faceless humanoid characters.  

It helped me focus on finding a way to say something differently and make the message more intimate and relatable to the viewers, trying to trigger emotions in a wider way. Anybody can picture themself into the piece in a slightly different state if they see everything but the face expression. 

My love for science and technology then led my mind into thinking that I was basically portraying humanoid robots acting like real human beings. As a sign of homage. 

I materialized that idea initially with my first .asimov project. A fictional futuristic clothing brand designed by humanoids droids in honor of the human race. 

Androids, even if they do not need any kind of clothing, in fact, draw and produce their clothes in memory of the species that, before extinction, gave them life. 

I went deeper after that, imagining a future where Artificial Intelligence acts on the Earth mimicking what humanity have done and felt in their lifespan on this planet. Through the highest form of flattery: emulation. 

We sometimes tend to picture and represent technology and AI the more evil the more further we push it because we’re scared of it. I like to look at what we have achieved and what we will achieve with technology as the greatest gift we could give to our memory and the .asimov project reflect the meaning behind that and why. 

It describes the admiration AI has for humanity. In the time of millions of lifetimes, they will act in remembrance of the deeds of their fathers, us.  

Human expressions through the acts of the true son of humanity, of their purest extension: Technology. Or as a droid would say: In honor of those who gave us the light.