About the Artwork Filomeno Angelo. Island. 2021  by Angelo Filomeno

Angelo Filomeno
Island

Impressions: 17

Year:

2021

Dimensions:

25.4 x 20.3 cm

Technique:

Signed, titled, and dated on reverse, embroidery on silk shantung stretched over cotton

tags:

About Island by Angelo Filomeno

Angelo Filomeno's "Islands" series features vividly colored seascapes, each composition centered around a single iceberg, volcano, or isle. These intricate landforms shift and glisten under the play of light. Drawing on his background in couture and costume design, Filomeno combines embroidery with a profound understanding of art history. His particular fascination lies in "memento mori," a genre of still-life paintings popular in early modern Europe, which served as reminders of human mortality and the transience of worldly possessions.

However, Filomeno's concerns are firmly grounded in the secular and earthly realms. Beneath the sumptuous hues and the sheen of silk and thread, his "Island" artworks convey a cautionary message about environmental catastrophe. Much like the skulls found in traditional memento mori, his simplified landforms serve as universally recognizable symbols of climate change, evoking images of melting glaciers and ice caps, rising sea levels and submerged islands, as well as the ominous red skies resulting from forest fires.

Beyond the Artwork: The Artist's Figure

Angelo Filomeno creates elegant blown-glass objects and what he refers to as "embroidery paintings" — macabre images delicately embroidered onto luxurious textured fabrics.

The artist began sewing at the young age of seven. He honed his skills as a tailor's apprentice and further developed his artistic sensibilities through the study of painting. His career started as a designer and tailor for a couture company in Milan and as a costume designer for a workshop in New York. In 2000, he created his inaugural work of art using a zigzag sewing machine. This creative journey was influenced by the untimely passing of his parents and inspired by memento mori, drawing from artists such as Matthias Grünewald, Albrecht Dürer, and Hieronymus Bosch. Filomeno describes his work as "very beautiful things depicting very bad psychological subject matter."

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