The Art of Carlomaria Pilloni

Carlomaria is a friend of mine from Pordenone, Italy who is associated with the Vastagamma Gallery in Pordenone. He draws his inspiration from Paul Klee, Art Brut and outsider art. Carlomaria works mainly in collage but also does a great deal of drawing and his work is always quite original and surprising, combining playfulness with a strong, intuitive sense of design. He is also associated with Viva Comix. See more of Carlomaria's work at Flickr.

Carlomaria always creates a special e-card for New Year's greetings to his friends. This is a playful assembly for 2008.

Mask 59 The bulk of Carlomaria's work are these collage "Masks." In this one there is a nice contrast between the face and black ground. The tilted rectangular shapes create a tension between themselves as well as the edges of the collage. And the eye, which has been torn out on the left becomes the eye on the right, with the rough torn edges contrasting nicely to the sharp edges of the rectangles. The printed text creates a nice rhythm for the teeth and nose.

Mask 4. Contrasting lines of blue and red define this mask. The red lines circle the face in a nice rhythm.
Mask 2. This is a whimsical mask with a lot of surprises. Carlomaria is a master at invention.
La Bestia (The Beast). Interesting rhythms are created by the dagger shapes of the paws and the tail and back. Note how the shape of the eyes is echoed in the letter B at the bottom left.
La Cravatta (The Tie). Carlomaria shows that expressive drawings can have good form just as the more formal ones. We feel the pain of this man who is compelled to wear a tie to his job. And it is probably not just the tie that is choking him. :-) This gestural drawing presents a marvelous variety of line and shapes that circle the man's head.