Finding Answers to Important Questions in Duct Tape Paintings Joe Girandola

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Contemporary art sometimes amazes not so much with its content as with its form - what material artists do not use for their paintings and sculptures - from rubbish to keyboards. So Joe Girandola decided to move away from the usual ways and creates monumental canvases from multi-colored electrical tape, while trying to find answers to important questions of modern society.

Joe Girandola is a professional artist based in Baltimore, Maryland. He studied art first in the USA, then in Italy, then again in the USA, where he received a university degree. Joe's work rivets our attention to seemingly insignificant details, which, nevertheless, on closer examination, do not turn out to be so. We just do not notice them in the incomprehensible bustle in which society is now.

Although by training he is a stone carver (he studied this art in Italy), Joe decided to change direction and abandoned traditional illustrations and paintings in favor of unusual materials. In the end, he settled on duct tape. This material is not new in the creative world, for example, Rebecca Ward used colorful duct tape as an original way modern design … Joe Girandola uses it to create monumental, profound paintings.

Electrical tape was originally used for military purposes and was green in color. Then they began to use it for central heating and other purposes, for which a matte gray tape was put into circulation and, in fact, its official name appeared just then. Joe Girandola's paintings, made of electrical tape of different colors, are dominant in his creative search. And, meanwhile, he is looking for answers to the most important questions related to the problems and morals of modern society.

“I am trying to find materials and technologies that have been forgotten. To do this, I explore the destructiveness of a society going through difficult times. What once would have caused a huge scandal is now in the order of things. Polyfoam replaces marble. Cutting edge cigarette filters try to reduce the harm from toxic cutting edge tobacco. With my work, I try to focus attention on America's fascination with violence. Our life is more and more digitized and virtualized every day. By exploring these important issues with 2D and 3D tools, I try to understand why society is changing its ideals so quickly,”writes Joe Girandola on his website www.joegirandola.com