BOLOGNA ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS – DIEGO ZUELLI

It's amazing to see how 3d computer graphics in contemporary art show visual and emotional influences that were believed to be out-dated in the so-called new media era. This demonstrates how technological development doesn't break the bonds with the past, but is rather a natural evolution.
Diego Zuelli's work enhances this way of thinking; he utilizes the most advanced techniques for digital reconstructions, never forgetting art history in chromatic and arrangement terms. Everything is made keeping an eye on the present age, without  falling into sterile repetitions and traditionalism, in fact proposing a different world vision, updated to modern logic. What strikes most in Zuelli's work is the simplicity of his videos, formally flawless and copious in symbolic meanings. Actions are simple and cyclically repeated, almost hypnotically, with a minimal presence or lack of sound. Rigorously computer-generated.
In Rotazione n.1 the artist creates a strong tie with the environment. The video and the surroundings become one, the main visual component is the perspective break-through effect. The lack of a clear and disruptive action highlights the little interest the artist has for narration, emphasizing instead the uneasiness hinted by the water vortex. Recalling A Descent into the Maelström by Edgar A. Poe, or the cylindrical sea described by Arthur C. Clarke in the sci-fi novel Rendezvous with Rama. We stated how the art of the past centuries pops up every now and then in the digital era of simulated space. There are citations of two major masterworks, very distant from each other but very close to the artist: Correggio's Assumption of the Virgin, and Marcel Duchamp's Rotoreliefs. 

Text by Luca Panaro