With a refreshing vision, Bruno Pontiroli paints magical surrealism of enchanting details. An original world with pseudo-naïf traits, where free animals and human beings have fun in a series of exercises and stunts that depict an accurate dexterity and with extreme balance. These are true circus artists, who are particularly attentive to body aesthetics, and displaying an exhibitionist vanity, proud of their prowess. Impossible positions of rare beauty, articulate the whole anatomy of the animal by executing delicate expression. Throughout his work, the interaction between man and animal is a constant; Pontiroli transforms this relationship into a harmonious symbiosis, thus becoming a perfect balance.

Pontiroli paints with his fertile imagination, outlining simplified compositions. He owns an illustrative and "caricature" trait, enlivened by a provocative mood. His style purposely rejects sophisticated artistic techniques, as his intent is focused on the form (in its meaning) and the intention of conveying it with maximum impact, and not distracting the viewer with pointless information.

The ground is extended to infinity and, in addition to accentuating the depth of the work, pulls the scene to the foreground. A melancholic palette, with little chromatic variation, comes to emphasize the values and forms. Negative and positive space is skillfully used, both between form and background, as in the fusion of motifs, which help to emphasize formal discrepancies and exacerbate irony. It is an original relationship between the formal qualities of painting that results in a revitalizing point-of-view.

Like a hyperbole, Pontiroli plays with the plasticity of the materials, manipulating the shape, exaggerating the scales, adulterating the weight of the masses, provoking an extreme elasticity and a heightened distortion accented by humorous apanages. The balance, is thus, challenged continuously as well as the roles of other laws, including the norms of political correctness.

By Pedro Boaventura • Excerpt from Masters of Contemporary Fine Art - Volume 3

 

Bruno Pontiroli is a french pop surrealist artist based in Paris. His work aims at turning the narrow vision that we have of the world upside down; Bruno questions the identity of things and tries to reinvent it using representations or crafted settings based on a different logic. He thereby creates in his paintings a universe comprised of the absurd and paradoxes and often described as poetic or dreamlike and that definitely disturbs imagination.