THE VISUAL GRAMMAR OF AN ARTISTIC INQUIRY
Curatorial essay on the artistic research of Marco Simonelli
Beyond What Appears
Every artistic inquiry arises from a personal relationship with reality. In the work of Marco Simonelli, this relationship takes shape through a question that has guided his practice for more than twenty years: How does Existence manifest itself?
It is an ancient question, explored over the centuries through philosophy, science, literature, and the arts. Its significance does not depend on the possibility of finding a definitive and unprecedented answer, but on the perspective from which it is examined. Simonelli’s research occupies this space: not the claim to discover an entirely unexplored territory, but the attempt to develop a personal vision of the manifestations of Existence.
Photography is the language through which this inquiry takes shape. The image does not simply record what lies before the camera; it becomes the material through which conceptual thought is developed. Through subtraction, addition, superimposition, reconstruction, and transformation, Simonelli alters familiar forms, establishes unexpected relationships, and creates visual configurations that move beyond the straightforward representation of reality.
Simonelli’s work unfolds through a plurality of subjects and expressive solutions. In some works, forms retain a recognizable relationship with the visible world; in others, they are altered, recomposed, or placed in contexts that change how they are perceived. Surrealist suggestions, metaphysical atmospheres, and heterogeneous juxtapositions may emerge at different points in the research. These references do not define a single artistic affiliation, but indicate some of the possibilities through which the artist approaches the questions that interest him.
Variety, in itself, does not guarantee meaningful research, just as the repetition of a subject or style is not necessarily a limitation. Every artistic practice faces the risk of exhausting its own possibilities or, conversely, becoming dispersed across too many directions. Simonelli’s research engages with this tension by choosing not to confine its inquiry in advance to a single subject or predetermined visual formula.
The continuity of his work must therefore be sought primarily in the question that gives rise to it. It is the inquiry into Existence that brings together works that may differ in subject matter, construction, and visual language. This does not mean that every solution necessarily achieves the same result, but that the works can be understood within a shared trajectory, in which each project approaches the question from a particular perspective.
This research unfolds across three complementary fields: VITA, MATERIA, and EKTOS. The human condition, the material world, and the possibilities that extend beyond known forms constitute three areas through which to explore different manifestations of Existence. They are neither separate answers nor categories capable of exhausting the complexity of the question, but directions of inquiry that allow the research to develop without being confined to a single territory.
Once completed, the works acquire an autonomy of their own. The question that gave rise to them belongs to the artist’s research, but it does not entirely determine the experience of those who encounter them. The images can establish relationships, suggest interpretations, and stimulate thoughts that do not necessarily coincide with the artist’s original intentions. Their meaning is not exhausted by an explanation of the creative process; it also takes shape through the encounter with each viewer’s perspective and experience.
Marco Simonelli’s research therefore offers neither a definitive account of Existence nor a claim to stand apart from the history and complexity of the artistic forms that preceded it. His practice develops through a question shared by human experience, approached from an individual point of view and translated into images.
It is in this relationship between conceptual inquiry and visual construction that the guiding principle of FORMALUX can be recognized: photography as a space for research, where observing reality also means questioning what appears and continuing to explore what we do not yet understand.