Antonio Pauciulo

Lives and works in Leipzig, Germany

Artist statement

My recent painting practice evolves from the portrait as an ideal laboratory for exploring the potential for contemporary humans and their eventual transfiguration due to scientific upheavals. For millennia Homo Sapiens have sought emancipation from biological boundaries, developing a progressive artificialization. This journey includes both, cultural narratives (sciences, politics, religions, arts), as well as the technologies that allows us to manipulate the ecosystem including life forms such as ourselves. At present, the human species is approaching a turning point. Biotechnology combined with artificial intelligence push humans beyond their biological boundaries, challenging the very understanding of humankind. New biological life may well emerge from intelligent design of science. This paradigm-shift has potential to radically destabilize the belief systems, shaping what we believe as real. In my work, the act of painting is a performative process to recursively create and destroy the image, in order to allow for unforeseen image to accumulate within the painting. This event transfigures all the knowledge gathered over the course of the process. I like to call this kind of painting as "artificial creature", since it allows for the emergence of new life-like form at the intersection of animal and cultural understanding.

Artwork