Me, Giampiero Abate

Giampiero Abate (Rome, 1970) is an Italian figurative painter who is inspired by surrealism and metaphysics, seeking intense atmospheres and colors and whose production is contaminated with technological means, such as Augmented Reality and 3D printing.
Self-taught, he prefers painting with the airbrush, although some of his works range from other traditional tools and techniques, including designing with 3D software in the creative process.
His experience leads him to a long period of teaching (1998-2018) in schools and associations, continuing with tutorials and online lessons.
The use of 3D software allows him to create the figures and settings of his works to lead to his first solo exhibition dedicated to this method: Ultrareale.

Abate’s work has been exhibited internationally in important museums and institutional spaces including:
Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia – Roma
Museo Marino Marini – Firenze
Biblioteca Centrale Nazionale – Roma
M.A.C.RO. Testaccio “La Pelanda” – Roma
Museo MAGMMA – Villacidro (VS)
Palazzo Ferdinando di Savoia – Roma
Basilica S. Giovanni Maggiore –  Napoli
Basilica Sant’Arcangelo Michele – Monte Sant’Angelo (FG)

In 2020 his painting “Congiunzione Temporale” became part of the Permanent Collection of National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome
In 2021 his painting “Antropomachia” became part of the Permanent Collection of  MAGMMA (Museum of Graphic Art of the Mediterranean Marchionni)

Statement

I am an artist, a reader, a navigator, a curious person, a lover of nature, science and travel.
My artistic career was born after a terrible car accident when I was 26: I was then a Police Officer and, for a patrol intervention, I had a head-on collision with another car driven by two murderers. The accident changed my life.
Leaving the Police permanently, I fought against my traumas: I immersed myself in the study of art and painting, giving myself a second chance. In this case, I can safely say that I was born two more times: when my life was saved in the hospital and when I chose art as a reason for living.
I did not have school training in the artistic disciplines. I learned self-taught, studying the techniques and history of art a lot. I still do.
I chose to express myself with figuration so that the viewer can feel more involved, but the peculiarity of my style is in the use of realistic subjects created with 3D: who observes carefully realizes that there is something different, by Ultrareal.
The characters assume ambiguous, undefined attitudes: they divide or unite, enter or leave, approach or move away. It is a continuous ballet that gives life to the scene itself and makes the observer ask questions. In this way I reach my goal: to bring the viewer closer to the painting by making him curious.
For example, in the painting “Nucleo Fuso”, which sees two opposing ultra-real characters almost fused together, it is not explicitly stated whether they are separating or getting closer together. It is here that the viewer wonders what is happening and his communication with the painting is born. Generally, the answer is always very personal and dictated by his mood.
Being passionate about science, physics and astronomy, in my works I insert geometries that have the same characteristics of mathematical laws and the settings are infinite, indefinite spaces. The detachment from a recognizable reality makes the viewer focus even more on the sense/non-sense of the characters’ action.
The technique I use for the realization of most of my paintings is the Airbrush. It is a very complex tool to use, but I chose it because it allows me to have high definition, which is close to hyperrealism, while using acrylic colors, which are more versatile and faster than oil colors.
My production will soon be expanded by sculptures made with 3D prints, modified and painted by hand. In fact, I have been studying Augmented and Virtual Reality applied to my paintings for some time to create total immersion for the viewer. In this way I will be more able to involve him with emotion.