3 - 18 December 2005

The work of British painter Salvatore Fiorello is an ongoing investigation into the field of urban landscapes. His emptied environments have an air of silence, and although un-inhabited, they still give an impression of a space being watched. The work depicts elevated images of rhythmically fragmented city streets and more recently include more exotic locations. The introduction of natural elements such as palm trees, confirm a sense of optimism to what at first glance may appear to be a hostile environment. Salvatore interrogates images of often over-looked architectural domain, exploring the structure of man-made space.

‘I begin by taking photographs of specific places and scanning them into the computer. After developing the images by removing certain information, I manipulate and fragment them before translating them into paint.’

‘I’m interested in the design of our environment, and how there are generic connections between cities; how a street can be misread to be identified with a specific city because it embodies stereotypical characteristics. I’m interested in the images being timeless. The absence of temporary information makes it difficult to determine roughly what era it is. I like the fact that the images could be from thirty or forty years ago. Acting similar to a film set, the images are left open to the viewer’s interpretation.’