Patrick Tuttofuoco (Milan, 1974) is a visual artist and lecturer at the faculty of Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA in Milan. His artistic practice, which mixes Modernism and Pop, is conceived as a dialogue between the individual and his ability to transform the environment in which people live, exploring the notions of community and social integration. The artist pushes his works towards abstraction using man as a paradigm of existence, as well as a unit of measure for reality. From this process come to life infinite versions of the human being and the context of their existence, translated into forms capable of giving life to the sculptures.
‘Our experience on Earth is often defined in terms of a duality between opposing forces, a situation in which the existence or identity of something depends on the co-existence of at least two conditions that are opposed but also dependent on one another and presuppose each other. It might actually be through getting past these categories that we can grow and develop as individuals and as a community. Here, I am referring to a field of tension that stands between these polarities and can understand and get past them through growth and a new vision of the world.’
Ultraworld, the site-specific installation created for MAO during the artist’s residency in 2024-2025, represents the iconic profiles of the Indian goddess Kali and the Greek god Dionysus. Positioned in the corner of the museum’s facade, Kali faces east while Dionysus faces west, creating a symbolic and spatial union between apparent opposites, such as the contrapposition between East and West, male and female, destruction and rebirth, thus becoming a way to reflect on how to overcome gender boundaries and breaking down stereotypes, labels and categories, in an attempt to shift the focus onto the individual's identity and experience, rather than on their appearance.
The work is designed to light up at night, but it is equally fascinating by daylight thanks to the higher quality of the glass used and its interaction with natural light.
The collaboration with WonderGlass has made this project possible, with a perfect integration between aesthetics and technique.
