Cultural anthropology is the framework for the complex and eccentric installations of Nico Vascellari (born 1976 in Vittorio Veneto,
Italy, lives and works in Rome and Vittorio Veneto), which combine
performative and
sculptural elements with
drawings,
collages,
videos and
sonic extravaganzas. Folklore, nature and the alternative underground scene contribute to the artist's unusual analysis of contemporary visual culture. Vascellari, himself a singer in the
punk band With Love, operates using rebellious artistic gestures that originate in tribal rituals of an archaic world, on the threshold of expression and collective consciousness.
Being both
musician and artist, Nico Vascellari combines his sculptural installations with sound performances. Through his performances he investigates the relation between the viewer, the space and the action. He is drawn to cult figures connected to the music scene with whom he collaborates or to which he reacts in his work. Inspired by his fascination with
rituals,
spiritualism and cult, he reflects on the thought of destruction as a driving energy to the construction of things. This leads him into the idea of mapping spaces, energies, sounds and nature, all of which are central themes in his work.