Simone Racheli is Florence born Italian artist who trained primarily as a sculptor at Florence’s Fine Arts Academy.

Having adopted the theme of ‘hyper-realism’, Racheli’s recent works feature ‘fleshless’ sculptures. His subjects, though, are not objects which normally have flesh. Indeed, he portrays a more mundane but quite diverse rage of objects, such as washbasins and motorbikes.

The fruits of his recent endeavours are eye catching, if somewhat disturbing, pieces.

Examples of this artist’s unique creations are on display at the Galleria Enrico Astuni in Pietrasanta.

Italy is in has not yet acquired permission to display Rachelli’s works, but examples can be seen here .

One of Racheli’s most startling pieces is what must be one of the most original interpretations of a motorbike ever seen. It is recommended that viewers use the ‘view image’ function, usually found by right clicking on a mouse, because the photo initially visible is somewhat distorted.

Actually, Italy is in’s Alex Roe, who was covering the MiArt 2008 Contemporary and Modern Art Exhibition in Milan for another on-line publication, first spotted Racheli’s work at this event. He found it enthralling.

The distinctive originality of this artist means that his work begs to be followed, and who knows in which direction his creativity will take him.

Racheli now lives and works in Parma, Italy.

Gaetano Fiore’s distinctive minimalist style which involves combining abstract and natural forms facilitates the creation of images which are striking in both their simplicity and their employment of a mix of geometric and fluid shapes. His images are also characterised by the use of what at first glance appear to be striking combinations of dominant colours.

In actual fact, however, although the colour and shades of colour he uses are indeed bold, the colour combinations always manage to compliment each other, resulting in visually appetising imagery.

Fiore’s talents were first recognised in 1986 by the Neapolitan art critic Luigi Eboli. Soon after Fiore held his first exhibition at the Galleria Salammbo in Paris.

Thanks to his wife, U. Rieger, Fiore’s work has been exhibited in Germany, where Fiore has also come into contact with various German artists and galleries.

Since 1997, Fiore has come under the tutorship of noted Italian contemporary artist Salvatore Emblema , whose work has had a great influence on Fiore’s style.

Interestingly enough, Fiore has also works as a scenographer for a number of theatres around Italy. Indeed, he has worked with the Globe in Rome, and the Nuovo Theatre in Salerno. Additionally, Fiore’s scenographic work also caught the eye of noted Italian actor, theatre director, writer and musician, Tato Russo - who is the artistic director of the Bellini Theatre in Naples.

Another curiosity is that Fiore is considered something of an expert on Afro-American music. Actually, one also wonders whether Fiore’s imagery has been influenced by traditional African art.

His interest in Afro-American music has brought him into contact with Carlos Ward and Bill Dixon , with whom he often shares and exchanges both musical and pictorial musings.

When not painting, Fiore can be found at the Zenale and Butinone Institute in Bergamo, Italy, where he works as teacher of graphic advertising design.

Gaetano Fiore was born in 1960 near Naples, Italy, and still studies at Naples’ Fine Art Academy .

Fiore has two children, and lives in Bergamo.

Gaetano Fiore has a personal website, in Italian and German, where more of his work can be viewed:

Gaetano Fiore

Some more examples of Fiore’s work is visible below.

Just click on a picture to see a larger version.

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Gianpietro Carlesso was born in Bolzano, Italy in 1961, and he lives and works in Cormòns, Italy.

After completing his education at the Trentino State Art Institute, he went on to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino. His held his first exhibition in conjunction with the Valente Contemporary Art Gallery.

Thanks to having won a scholarship from the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg he spent 1989 and 1990 in Germany in a studio located on the site of the Krupp Steelworks in Rheinhausen. This scholarship in the Rhur basin made a particularly important contribution to his artistic training.

As a result of this experience he came into close contact with the history of continental European sculpture and developed an appreciation of the imposing dimensions of sculptures from beyond the Alps.

It was while resident in Germany at his studio in the Krupp Steelworks in Rhienhausen, that he produced his first large-scale sculptures for a series of museum and public exhibitions. At the same time he worked with the celebrated Gallery 44 in Düsseldorf and the Sander gallery in Darmstadt.

After returning to Italy he spent two years teaching sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino before dedicating himself entirely to his own work. He also worked with the Niccoli gallery of Parma and the Schrade Galley of Ulm.

It was in this period that his work came to be characterised by a specific search for “deconstruction”. The initial fruits this influence upon his work were presented for the first time at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, Italy.

During the mid-90’s he and his family moved to the Friuli region of Italy where Gianpietro came into contact with proprietors and institutions from the near East and this resulted in his participation in a number of exhibitions and projects, he also continued to work with the Rein-Side Winkelmann Gallery in Dussledorf.

Gianpietro’s sculptures are featured at the Winkelmann Gallery in Dussledorf, the Mannheim Galley, the German Post Office in Dortmund, the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, the Bolzano Museum of Modern Art and in various private Italian collections of note.

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Please Note:

Although we are more than happy to put people in touch with Gianpietro Carlesso, we feel we ought to point out that attempts to ‘bypass’ galleries stocking his work in an attempt to obtain a lower price will cause problems for the artist.

In much the same way as a business, Gianpietro uses distributors to sell work on his behalf. To an extent this means that such outlets have a form of ‘exclusive’ supply agreement with him.

If Gianpietro is seen to be avoiding such agreements, then he will end up with no distributors, and thus no outlets for his work. This means no income for him, or his family. This would be a shame, and it is the last thing I would wish to happen, as I am sure my readers will appreciate.

However, if you live in a country or town where Gianpietro has no distributors, then direct contacts are fine, especially if you wish to display or sell his work.

In light of the above, if you still want to contact Gianpietro, please get in touch - although I will strictly vet any requests and if I smell scam/fraud, then your contact will become free space on my hard drive.