For this year's edition of Art Brussels, Mendes Wood DM is presenting a special project by Giangiacomo Rossetti that will take over part of the booth at the fair. Rossetti will be showing a recently developed body of works all titled NYC purple, a series of subtraction monotypes – 15 portraits of characters from his milieu in New York City.

The subtraction monotype technique is one favored by many painters throughout art history starting with Benedetto Castiglione experimentations and going from Rembrandt to Degas until present times. Rather than adding color directly to the paper, this technique works through subtraction, where the ink is layered over a glass or metal plate to be then removed with different tools until the image is formed. The amount of ink left on the plate is enough to print a unique artwork.

Rossetti has kept a kind of painterly quality in this series, in which each subject appears to be lit by a voluptuous light, emphasizing the artist’s skill and precision, but also finding resonance with the only painting in the presentation, which act as a counterpoint to the monotypes. Taking inspiration from Bronzino’s Descent of Christ into Limbo (1552), Rossetti’s metaphysical composition depicts the miraculous appearance of a figure above the artist’s desk.

You can find more information about the others artists exhibited at the fair by clicking here.

Giangiacomo Rossetti (b. 1989, Milan, Italy) lives and works in New York.

Rossetti attended the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan and in 2019 graduated from Die Institut Kunst FHNW in Basel. His solo exhibitions include Giangiacomo Rossetti, The Power Station, Dallas (2023); Trabalhos grandes / Big paintings, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2022); The Unfun, Federico Vavassori, Milan (2021); Tower 1, Fiorucci Art Trust, London (2021); Le Fantasie, Greene Naftali, New York (2020); Bones of the Men, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2019); DEEPSTARIA ENIGMATICA, Riverside, Bern (2018); KRIS, Federico Vavassori, Milan (2017); and Bellarmina, Warm, São Paulo (2016).

His work has been featured in several group exhibitions such as Expressions with Fractions, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli (2022); A Maze Zanine, Amaze Zaning, A-Mezzaning, Meza-9, David Zwirner, New York (2022); Luncheon on the Grass, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles (2022); Pittura in persona. La nuova Collezione della Fondazione CRC, Fondazione CRC, Cuneo (2021); Winterfest: An Exhibition of Arts and Crafts, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2020); Yellow Opening, Mendes Wood DM at d’Ouwe Kerk, Retranchement (2020); Prelude: Melancholy of the Future, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Ghent (2020); This Corrosion, Modern Art, London (2020); Techniques of the Observer, Greene Naftali, New York (2019); Nightfall, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels (2018); and Tra l’inquietudine e il Martello, Federico Vavassori, Milan (2018).

Collections

Christen Sveaas Art Foundation (Kistefos Museum)
THE EKARD COLLECTION
Fiorucci Art Trust
Pinault Collection

Giangiacomo Rossetti

ART BRUSSELS 2023