#fedele spadafora

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Orchard Street   -   Fedele Spadafora , 2019.

American, b. 1968  -

Oil on canvas , 76 x 102 cm.

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Details of paintings by Daniel Albrigo, Fedele Spadafora and Chris Zitelli.  In Bit Rot, April 13 - May 6, 2018.

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Opening of Bit Rot, 4/13/18.  Featuring work by Daniel Albrigo, Fedele Spadafora and Chris Zitelli.

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Fedele Spadafora   September 13, 2017

Oil on canvas   18 x 24 inches  

In Bit Rot, Fri-Sun 1-6 PM, through May 6.

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Fedele Spadafora   March 20, 2017

Oil on canvas   18 x 24 inches  

In Bit Rot, Fri-Sun 1-6 PM, through May 6.

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Bit Rot

April 13 – May 6, 2018 

Galerie Manqué presents Bit Rot, featuring the work of Daniel Albrigo, Fedele Spadafora and Chris Zitelli.  The paintings by these artists, all executed in oil on canvas or panel, depict subject matter that appears strangely familiar.  However, the source of that familiarity seems based not in our actual experience of moving through the world but in the similarity of these images to various “genres” of photography that are ubiquitous in social media. 

The term bit rot is variously defined as, “the slow deterioration in the performance and integrity of data stored on storage media,” “the inability to access digital data because the file format is obsolete and compatible applications no longer exist to read it,” and “the phenomenon of storage media gradually decaying over time.”  With so much of—everything—being digitally recorded and stored, this phenomenon has become a source of concern to a number of people. 

Bit Rot ponders the possibility—given the rapid obsolescence created by successive waves of technology, as well as the actual physical deterioration of stored digital data over time—that the physical representations in this show, executed in the most traditional of materials, might outlast their digital counterparts. 

The three paintings by Daniel Albrigo seem to echo the common social media practice of posting photos of ordinary, often handmade signs that unintentionally suggest an alternative reading.  When decontextualized, the content of these signs frequently appears to be poetic, suggestive, absurd or unsettling.  Fedele Spadafora’s paintings of food make use of the overhead view that is a foodies’ favorite when documenting their meals.  While the work can be linked to the still-life tradition of depicting food as a metaphor for the brevity of life, it could also be viewed as a memento mori for the potentially transitory nature of digital data.  In contrast to Albrigo and Spadafora, Chris Zitelli’s images are less easy to classify by genre, but nonetheless have a “look” that appears very familiar, as a result of their resemblance to a certain type of social media photography. Often out of focus, inadequately lit or oddly cropped, what these images lack in successful documentation of their subject is more than made up for by their evocativeness and mystery. 

The exhibition was organized by gallery curator George Metesky.

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Opening Friday, April 13, 6-9 PM.