Florence based artist, Michele Durazzi, creates a surreal world where architecture and nature meet. Using different 3D rendering software, he’s able to abstract and manipulate the images, making the human figure seem insignificant and otherworldly. The series is titled “Was ist Metaphysik?”, and explores architectural forms through the lens of the colour white. Durazzi graduated from the University of Florence and can turn his hand to traditional art forms, as well as digital art, 3D rendering, post-production, animation and architecture – his many strings also pluck on a variety of influences.
The title of the work is borrowed from the philosophical texts of Martin Heidegger, and seeks to tell a story through architecture. Representation is hazy, what each symbol means can be read in a multitude of ways. Your eye might be drawn to a certain object, or a certain curve of the building, just to be missing the key point of the narrative. This creates a detective-like viewer, who must look deeply into each work in order to get a sense of the whole.
The scale Durazzi creates is impressive, as the geometric cut of the buildings tower behind. Solitary bikes stand slackjawed against buildings, or a lone person passes through – almost accidentally. In one photograph a man sits holding an umbrella, looking to camera, as a shadow moves closer. It reminds us of surrealist Magritte, whilst the solitary briefcase in the middle of a mezzanine could almost be a digital Escher. It is this sense of scale that is so important to conjuring up those existential philosophical influences. That the relationship to scale is determined (and then undermined) by the human presence gives the sense that even though someone is there, it is not all encompassing.
But beyond the philosophical undercurrents, the work itself is superbly rendered. Crisp images taken from above give us a different perspective on the world, and the white is often set off by deep blue hues. Durazzi isn’t bothered about recreating realism, this is lush dream-like scenarios until the end. The work is both tranquil and alien, inviting and disconcerting.
