Where’s Art invites London-based Italian curator Valentina Fois to introduce the work of new media artist Steven Morgana.
As a curator there is nothing that gives me more satisfaction than working and playing a role in the career’s development of young talents. When I see them become aware of their potential I am rewarded for all the sacrifices and long hours of work. All these young artists work like there is no tomorrow; they are real warriors ready to fight for a moment of glory, and they push their limits further and further with extreme courage. However such young artists, with a pure heart, are not so many; when you find one they are a rarity.
Here, I would like to introduce Australian-French artist Steven Morgana, who I have been extensively working with for the past few years. One of Morgana’s obsessions is the rainbow. Steven had a show at La Scatola Gallery in 2012 entitled The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb. This provided an insightful and timely engagement with issues of culture and nature, energy and entropy and, last but not least, sustainability.
The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb was Steven Morgana’s first solo show. During the the preparation, I could lose and find myself in his work day after day; even after a year or so, the Steven’s work re-invents itself every day with new meanings to be discovered. Morgana has further explored this work in a show at the ICA in London as part of the Bloomberg British New Contemporaries in 2014.
It Was All Ephemeral as a Rainbow (2012) is not just an aesthetically beautiful artwork consisting of a mirror and a few neon lights, it’s the result of years of investigation. We ought to be careful not to be seduced by the sparkling beauty of the piece and pay more attention to the irony that it hides behind its mirrored surface. The work, which is powered by a portable petrol generator, is seeking to unravel the paradox between the notions of beauty and nature, and concepts of social progress and co-operation. Morgana is definitely one of the London upcoming artists, definitely one to watch.
Valentina Fois
Valentina Fois is a contemporary art curator and digital strategist. Her areas of special interest and expertise include early career artists and new media. Her work and research focus on art and technology within contemporary network culture. She worked at Union gallery, London, before she founded La Scatola Gallery in 2010 aimed to promote emerging artists in the UK. Valentina is the curator of #Post, a virtual residency, hosting a different artist each month that engages with digitaling and the Internet age, using La Scatola’s website as the gallery space. Valentina holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Contemporary Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London, and studied at Christie’s Education. She graduated from The European Institute of Design in 2008, studying in Rome and Milan. She is completing an MA in Digital Heritage at the University of Leicester. Valentina is curating a pavilion at The Wrong, New Digital Art Biennale, 2015, and she is the Arts and Culture Director at Pop Brixton, London. She will be presenting a paper, The Prosumer: The Key Player of the Museum of the Future at the EVA London Conference, London in July 2015.
Steven Morgana, “The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb”, installation view at La Scatola Gallery, (11 May – 15 June 2012). Photo: Raymond Cheung. Image courtesy La Scatola Gallery.
Steven Morgana, “The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb”, (11 May – 15 June 2012), Photo: Raymond Cheung. Image courtesy La Scatola Gallery.
Steven Morgana, “The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb”, installation view at La Scatola Gallery, (11 May – 15 June 2012). Photo: Raymond Cheung. Image courtesy La Scatola Gallery.
Steven Morgana, “The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb”, installation view at La Scatola Gallery, (11 May – 15 June 2012). Photo: Raymond Cheung. Image courtesy La Scatola Gallery.
Steven Morgana, “The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb”, installation view at La Scatola Gallery, (11 May – 15 June 2012). Photo: Raymond Cheung. Image courtesy La Scatola Gallery.
Steven Morgana, “The Future Feels Like a Phantom Limb”, installation view at La Scatola Gallery, (11 May – 15 June 2012). Photo: Raymond Cheung. Image courtesy La Scatola Gallery.
Steven Morgana, ‘It Was All Ephemeral as a Rainbow’, 2012. Photo: Raymond Cheung. Image courtesy La Scatola Gallery.