Distorted universes of Bruno Pontiroli
Imagine a world based on a different logic; a universe comprised of the absurd and paradoxes.
A dream in which aircraft crash into clouds and snowmen model a human body using flakes of skin.
My aim is turn the narrow vision that we have of the world upside down and disturb our imagination while shaking an accepted reality with images that are as comprehensible as they are familiar.
Distorting a symbol or mixing opposing universes allows me to question the identity of things so that I can reinvent them.
Born in 1981, Bruno Pontiroli lives and works in Paris. After studying in Supinfocom, he turned to drawing and painting to express his desire for artistic creation.
Bruno Pontiroli creates surreal worlds inhabited by fantasy characters: centaurs, mermaids and other creatures which contradict all laws of nature. In his poetic and mysterious painting we can see the unlikely become a reality.The artist brings to life all our childhood dreams and gives us a new way to see the world.
In 2012, he made his first individual exhibition at the Gallery "le Laboratoire de la Création" in Paris. Since then, his pieces have been exposed in France, Europe and the United States.
An admirer of René Magritte, Roland Topor, Rubens and Rembrandt, Bruno finds inspiration in situations, books and images that surround him. A simple photo of a camel can be the basis for a new painting. “Upon seeing my work for the first time,” he says, “people often refer to Surrealism and Dadaism. I wouldn’t want to categorise it. What I try to do is propose another version of reality, a different way of seeing things. When looking at my paintings, people seldom remain impassive, they either love or detest, find it funny or even macabre…and they usually share their opinion, discuss it. And to be honest that is what I like, what I am looking for.”
In Bruno’s fascinating and disturbing body of work, animal and human anatomy is stretched into long tubes and cut with scissors. Identities merge, a fish-woman “carries herself”. A man stares at his fatty stomach – spread out before him as chunks of flesh.
Bruno Pontiroli creates mind-bending explorations of the relationship between humans and animals, painting limber cows doing impressive handstands or an over-eager man embracing a large walrus, much to its chagrin. The artist shies away from labeling his work as Surrealist or Dadaist, instead proposing a new version of reality without categorization. Pontiroli will exhibit work with Galerie Klaus Kiefer at art KARLSRUHE from February 21 to 24, 2019 and with Fousion Gallery at Urvanity Art Madrid from February 28 to March 3, 2019. You can peek further inside Pontiroli’s bizarre world of shape-shifting humans and balancing bovines on his website and Instagram.