La forma scavata (The carved form)

La forma scavata (The carved form). An exhibition by 108 – Guido Bisagni

Matera was born from tuff stone. Houses, walls, fountains and churches have been shaped from the solid, one block at a time with geometric patience, whilst the quarries stand as physical evidence of the void left behind.

108 (Guido Bisagni) finds in Matera a kinship both in form and in process, a continuous addition and subtraction that mirrors an artistic method consolidated over 25 years of practice.
The excavated form creates a double landscape, each the negative of the other. The void of the quarries becomes the fullness of the city. In emptiness, the city lives.

Following other artists of recent decades, Matera remains today a subject of study, interpretation and structure to be shaped: 108 and his abstract works add yet another layer to the city’s narrative.

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108 (Guido Bisagni) was born in Alessandria in 1978. He lives and works between Alessandria and Milan.
A seminal figure in the Italian urban art scene of the early 2000s, he is considered one of the foremost pioneers of abstract post-graffiti art in both Italy and Europe. Following his encounter with punk and Luigi Russolo’s sonic experiments, he extended his practice into the musical realm under the pseudonym Larva 108. Signs, symbols and abstract materialisations with organic qualities compose a new poetic and spiritual imagery, conceived through the confluence of diverse sources—from the abstraction of the historical avant-garde to the Dadaist chance operations of H. Arp, from numerology to primitive painting.
He has exhibited in dozens of solo and group exhibitions worldwide.
Text adapted from Enciclopedia Treccani

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Under the patronage of Comune di Matera