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    Aliens, Gods and humans
    SEBASTIANO MAURI

    November 23, 2011 – January 28, 2012
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Aliens, Gods, Humans, 2011, installation view. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Aliens, Gods, Humans, 2011, installation view. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Aliens, Gods, Humans, 2011, installation view. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Aliens, Gods, Humans, 2011, installation view. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Aliens, Gods, Humans, 2011, installation view. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Aliens, Gods, Humans, 2011, installation view. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Aliens, Gods, Humans, 2011, installation view. Courtesy Otto Zoo

    Works

    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 23 x 14 x 17 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 22x22x24cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 17x17x31cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 17x17x30cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 15x15x27cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 15x15x15cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 15x15x15cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo_
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 14 x 14 x 22 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 14 x 14 x 18 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 13 x 13 x 16 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 12 x 12 x 17 cm each. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 23 x 23 x 43 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 23 x 23 x 25 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 23 x 23 x 23 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 28 x 28 x 34 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2010, mixed media, 25 x 25 x 30 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Allah, 2007, inkjet print on cotton paper, 56 x 43 cm, ed. of 6. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Alien, 2012, mixed media, 35 x 35 x 45 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Altars (Kuan Yin), 2009, mixed media, 37 x 37 x 43 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Altars (Jesus), 2010, mixed media, 32 x 32 x 52 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Altars (Guachito Gil), 2009, mixed media, 37 x 37 x 43 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Altars (Buddha), 2011, mixed media, 30 x 30 x 44 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Baby Shiva, 2010, mixed media, 32 x 26 x 40 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, African Idol, 2010, mixed media, 27 x 27 x 27 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Garuda, 2010, mixed media, 27 x 27 x 27 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Ganesh, 2010, mixed media, 27 x 27 x 27 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Ganesh, 2007, inkjet print on plexiglass mounted on dibond, 140 x 110 cm, ed. of 6. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Virgen Negra, 2011, mixed media, 24 x 28 x 44 cm. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Pachamama, 2007, inkjet print on cotton paper, 56 x 43 cm, ed. of 6. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Kali, 2007, inkjet print on cotton paper, 56 x 43 cm, ed. of 6. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, I believe in God, 2007, video, 25'. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, The God Machine™, 2013, mixed media, 210x105x150cm, Christianity. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, The God Machine™, 2013, mixed media, 210 x 105 x 150 cm, Hinduism. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, The God Machine™, 2013, mixed media, 210 x 105 x 150 cm, Buddhism. Courtesy Otto Zoo
    • Sebastiano Mauri, Crying Bhudda, 2007, inkjet print on plexiglass mounted on dibond, 140 x 110cm, ed. of 6. Courtesy Otto Zoo

    OTTO ZOO presents Aliens, Gods and Humans an exhibition of Italian-Argentinian artist Sebastiano Mauri’s most recent works, open to the public between November 23, 2011 to January 28, 2012. The theme of the exhibition is the understanding of diversity and religious symbolism.

    Sebastiano Mauri’s (Milan, 1972) work is marked by an anthropological and descriptive approach

    to the emotional side of our existence. Intrigued by the cinema and by an idea of cultural nomadism that he experiments in his own life, Mauri has created, throughout the years, a form of eclectic figurativeness translated into video, photography and painting, that is achieved through a process of collecting and archiving of images, stories, symbols, objects, and bric-à-brac.

    Mauri’s videos are long sequels of testimonies on a specific theme; his portraits and photographs are an atlas of physiognomy. This endless taxonomic work came to life in Mauri’s series of sculptural objects currently exhibited: Aliens and Altars.

    Aliens consists of twenty small sculptures under bell jars in which aliens relate with vintage portraits of humans. This combination creates a dialogue between different meanings and different universes and gives birth to an intricate mix of references, where one could lose oneself or find oneself. This is to confirm that, within what is different, there is part of us. More explicit is the series Altars, small shiny and noisy temples dedicated to various gods, created in great detail. The artist used rhinestone, flowers, miniature landscapes, and multiethnic elements for an excessive and exaggerated decoration to powerfully underline the fear that religious cults share of confronting emptiness and death.

    Mauri completes his exhibition with a reconstruction of his pantheistic altar, covered in hundreds of statues, souvenirs, drawings, paintings, photographs and videos.

    SEBASTIANO MAURI (Milan, 1972; lives and works in Milan and Buenos Aires)

    Solo shows: 2010 Braga Menendez Arte Contemporaneo, Buenos Aires (RA), Tramando, Buenos Aires (RA), Faena Hotel, Buenos Aires (RA); 2009 Museo MACRO, Rosario (RA), Loto Arte, Rome (I); 2008 Not Gallery, Naples (I), Torre Branca, Fuori Miart, Milan (I); 2006 Not Gallery, Naples (I), Braga Menendez Arte Contemporaneo, Buenos Aires (RA), 2005 Rubin News, Milan (I), Braga Menendez Arte Contemporaneo, Buenos Aires (RA); 2004 Baltar Contemporaneo, Mar del Plata (RA), Rocco P. Home Gallery, Milan (I); 2003 Braga Menandez Schuster, Buenos Aires (RA); 2002 Egizio’s Project, New York (USA); 1999 Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires (RA), Galleria d’Arte Bruna Soletti, Milan (I), Fondation Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires (RA); 1998 Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires (RA).

    Selected group shows: 2011 UN’ITA, Industria Superstudio, New York (USA), Magic Praga, Prague Quadriennal, Prague (CZ); 2010 Du Lourd et du Piquant, Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles (F), Latitudini Longitudini, Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice (I), The Wall, FAC – Fronte Arte Contemporanea, Milan (I), Senses, Erastudio Apartment Gallery, Milan (I), Faces, Arendt & Medernach, Luxembourg (NL), Ustioni, Private Flat, Florence (I); 2009 X Bienal de la Habana, Centro de Arte Contemporanea Wilfredo Lam, La Habana (C), Detour, Santralistanbul, Istanbul (TR), Interplay – Premio Termoli, Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Termoli (I), How To, Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (TR), Subverted Genres, Sue Scott Gallery, New York (USA), Las Americas Latinas, Spazio Oberdan, Milan (I); 2008 Detour, Centre Pompidou, Paris (F), Il rimedio perfetto, Galleria Riccardo Crespi, Milan (I), War Club, Appetite, Buenos Aires (RA), Strategie di Elusione, VideoFotografiaContemporanea, Biennale di Alessandria, Alessandria (I), Exposure, MACRO – Museo di Arte Contemporanea di Rosario (RA), Postres, Fotologia, Bogota (CO), Multipli d’Amore, N.O. Gallery, Milan (I), Black Box / White Cube, ArteBA, Buenos Aires (RA), Realidades Dislocadas + Don’t Disappear, Expotrastienda, Buenos Aires (RA); 2007 Annisettanta, La Triennale di Milano, Milan (I), Latinolatino, Santa Maria dello Spasimo, Palermo (I), Buenos Aires: Art for Export, Eyestorm Gallery, London (UK), Fulgor: Arte Emergente Argentino, Blanca Soto, Madrid (E), Infinidades, Espacio Casa de Cultura, Buenos Aires (RA), Rituals, Gods and Sacrifices, MC Gallery, New York (USA), La Milanesiana – I conflitti dell’Assoluto, Teatro Dal Verme, Milan (I), Aniconics, Icon Killers, Caffè Letterario, Rome (I) + Antichi Forni di Macerata, Macerata (I); 2006 D’Ombra, Palazzo delle papesse, Siena (I), Estudio Abierto, Correos Central, Buenos Aires (RA), 05982:01, Fundacion de Arte Contemporaneo, Montevideo (ROU), Eastern Allinace 3 – Teledivision Show, National Museum of Art, Bucharest (RO) + Center for Contemporary Art – KSA:K, Chisinau (MD), Black Box/White Cube, ArteBA, Buenos Aires (RA); 2005 Il bello e le bestie, MART – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Muestra Inaugural, VVV Gallery, Madrid (E), X4, DPM Arte Contemporaneo, Guayaquil (EC), Feedback, CACT – Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Belliinzona (CH), Before the Summer, Ice House, New York (USA), De Frente, CCEBA – Centro Cultural de España de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (RA), Tracce di un Seminario, Viafarini, Milan (I); 2004  You surely Will Be Confused, Ticosa, Como (I), Moving, Cassero Senese della Fortezza Medicea, Grosseto (I), Contemporanea Giovani 2, Ticosa, Como (I), S/T, Elsi Del Rio, Buenos Aires (RA); 2003 New York Paints, Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art, New York; 2002 Exposure, Heidi Lee Fine Arts, New York (USA), Escape, Egizio’s Project, New York (I), Art: 9-11, Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art, New York (I).

    Prizes: 2001 Nominated for The Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant; 1996 Martin Scorsese Post Production Award; 1996 Warner Brothers Award.

    → artist’s page