About

The Colours of Meditation Exhibition 2024 

(VR exhibition link active from 29 April to 26 May)

Artist Statement ©Tommaso:

As an Italian artist living in Asia, the local culture, has a significant impact on my approach. In the past ten years, I am engaging in the artistic local and international scene. PhD studies with technoetic and moist-media theorist and practitioner, Emeritus Professor Roy Ascott have boosted it. Among my projects, one has impacted the most in my career development, a contemporary theatrical performance developed with a local theatre company for the Wellcome Trust (UK). It allowed me to reconsider the value of the human body as a designerly tool. A medium; since then, I embed the idea of the physical and social body in my work. Meditation comes after a series of experiments on how to live the now, the nowness.

The stillness of these minutes sit down by doing nothing has been balanced by starting drawing on my laptop just after every single session.

Each morning for almost a year I woke up at 3:30 am, and for 30 minutes I meditated, once done, with the same breathing I turned on my screen and let my hand going by following the moment. Each morning a different outcome has been created. Early stages of this research-based work have been daily upload on my Instagram page as a sort of journal. Besides the tangible result, this practice impacts the way I act and react in all the sphere of my life. My work is culture based; this specific series is adapting into a series of media, from sportswear to wallpapers and framed art. This series has been recently on display a Duke Contemporary Art Gallery in Bangkok, Thailand. A positive reception has led me to develop workshops as ‘True Perception: Meditative Awareness as a Gateway to Artistic Expression’ with a Shambhala meditation master, here I will be in charge of the path of Dharma Art.

Living in a Buddhist country like Thailand for so many years has undoubtedly influenced the fact that at a certain point in my life, I decided to start to meditate to release the stress of daily life. Meditation became for me a daily practice and routine to increase calmness and clarity. After every session of meditation, then I was inspired to draw. I have realized a series of painting every meditation session, almost 300 at the moment. Mindfulness meditation isn’t about letting your thoughts wander, and neither empties your mind it is about being present and embraces the moment, especially our thoughts, emotions and sensations, whatever it is that’s happening. So what is the best way to channel my thoughts than express them through painting? In each work, I represented the moment, the now.

Exhibition Introduction ©Tommaso:

When you close your eyes in search of tranquillity, what colour greets you? In the rhythm of our daily lives, emotions have secured a pivotal role, and meditation has become a haven for the soul. Beyond the traditional image of stillness, meditation can be a dynamic journey—a state of uninterrupted creation were time fades into oblivion.

Tommaso, an artist with a PhD Alternative Arts Education from University of Plymouth (UK), delves into this realm by crafting a virtual canvas of interwoven realities. His hands not only shape but also capture the essence of meditation, creating flat surfaces that reflect the transformative power of this practice. Each artwork is a tribute, crafted with the intention of sharing positive vibrations with family, friends, and acquaintances.

This exhibition extends an invitation to connect deeply with the art. It encourages you to bypass the search for Tommaso’s perspective or any external meaning. Instead, it asks you to trust your emotional instincts as the true interpreter of each piece. Discover the artwork that speaks to you and ponder its magnetic pull.

With over 700 hours dedicated to the intersection of somatic movement and design, Tommaso has enriched the realms of education, business, and meditation retreats. His innovative approach has unlocked the harmonious power of art and meditation, creating a sanctuary for reflection and artistic expression.

Exhibition Derivative ©Jier Art (Founder):

In the art history, Abstract Expressionism emerged after Surrealism and after World Wall II due to the decline of the belief in the superiority of science, logic, and utopian societies. Visual art as one of the technologies was expressing the human condition in this transformative movement. In 1947, Jackson Pollock as a forerunner in this art movement, he applied action painting into his creation process and into his abstract gesture paintings. One of his masterpieces named Autumn Rhythm: Number 30 is collected in Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and initially his artwork was found and exhibited by Betty Parsons Gallery in 1948, and before the light spot, he did many other jobs including a custodian in a museum and was marginalized in the art world. Abstract Expressionism was driven by Existentialism which life outweighs knowledges, physical materials, and truths, and art was responding to it personally during the period. Duchamp facilitated a concept that art was not only limited to the traditional forms, but also televisions, film, earth, entire environments, and then Digital Arts emerged from the mid-1950s to 1970s when the postwar society reflected the reality of hierarchy in the continuous development of industrialization, while humanity became less important (Davies, Denny, Hofrichter, Jacobs, Roberts & Simon 2011).

Digitalization became a power, and digitalized line art emerged in the early 1990s, architects started using CAD (computer-aided design) to create architectures, for example, Frank Gehry designed the complex forms of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain (Davies, Denny, Hofrichter, Jacobs, Roberts & Simon 2011). In ancient Chinese art history, line art appeared within the “Shufa” in the Han dynasty, which was an ancient Chinese way of writing by brushes, and “Jiaguwen” writing system showed “Xiangxing” concept that objectives in the art were abstract but expressing the power from imaginations and meanings. One of the famous ancient “Shufa” art piece was applied a writing system named “Cursive Script” and it was created and written by an author and artist “Huaisu” in Tang dynasty (Li 2009).

Artist Tommaso applies contemporary digital action painting and line drawing techniques, in combination of his personal reflections with meditation into the creation of art. He grew up in Italy and received education in United Kingdom, and works in Thailand presently, and he creates his life movement from west to east, academic background towards a PhD in art, and his interest in e-commerce of China. The mixture of the vivid ideas and cross-board experiences reflects his optimism worldview, multiculturism, and peace with practicing meditation has become an inspiration. Tommaso wants to share his active life experiences, love to humankind, art concepts, and artworks in the exhibition of “The Colours of Meditation” to international audiences including art lovers, academics, entrepreneurs, professionals co-existing in this modern world and digitalized economies.

References:

Davies P.J.E, Denny W.B., Hofrichter F.F., Jacobs J., Roberts A.M., Simon D.L. 2011, Janson’s History of Art, 18th Edition, Pearson, NJ.

Li Z., 2009, The Path of Beauty, First Edition, SDX Joint Publishing Company, Beijing.

Exhibitions:

2020 (SOLO) Maggio, T., ‘The Meditative Gentleman’, Duke Contemporary Art Gallery, Gaysorn Village, Bangkok, Thailand

2016 (Collective), ‘Open Design for Everything, Cumulus Hong Kong Open Fashion, Hong Kong

2015 (Collective) ‘Design Literacy Forum II: Culture Pulse in Architecture & Design, Assumption University of Thailand

2015 (SOLO) Maggio, T., ‘Yonok Capsule Collection’, Assumption University, Bangkok, Thailand

2014 Maggio, T. and Jiro T., ‘Secret Keeper’, with B-Floor, Event part of Wonderfruit Festival, Chon Buri, Thailand

2014 (SOLO) Maggio, T. and Perin L. YONOK. at Bontadosi Hotel & Spa, Art Gallery, Montefalco, Italy

2014 Maggio, T. and Perin L. Note d’Asia / Rivoluzione Artigiana, Asian Notes: The Handcraft Revolution April 2014, Organized by Confartigianato Udine, at Casa Cavazzini (modern and contemporary artmuseum), as part of FAREASTFILMFESTIVAL, Italy.

2014 Maggio, T. and Perin L. And B-Floor ‘Survival Games’, for Wellcome Trust as part of Art in Global Health, Wellcome Collection, Bangkok, Thailand

2012 Maggio, T. (Curator) Meet the Artist: St. Regis Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

​2011 Maggio, T. (Curator) CenamSumo: food and design for a unique dining experience, Bangkok, Thailand – Bologna, Italy

2010 Maggio, T (Curator): Aperitivo Italiano Special event Italian Festival 2010, with Italian Trade Commerce, Italian Embassy and TICC, at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

2010 (Co-Curator): In progress n°. 1: this is not an exhibition at Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre (BACC), for CommDe, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

​2010 Maggio, T (Collective) TuPlay product 8&1/2 a light and shadow table game, at Fonderia Napolenica, Milan, Italy

​2008 Maggio, T (Collective) 100 and + Ceramic Tiles for Paradise, Milan Design Week, Italy

​2008 Maggio, T (Collective) Il Mosnel ‘Questione di Etichetta’, Milan Design Week, Italy

​2007 Maggio, T (Collective) AD!DICT Chocolate Design, Expo Kortrijk, Belgium

​2007 Maggio, T (Collective) AD!DICT ChocolateLab 2.0, Conceptual product: of ‘Choco Elisir’ Milan, ITy

​2007 Maggio, T (Collective) 16 Designer for Invicta, product: ‘Criss Cross’ bag Milan Design Week, Italy

2006 Maggio, T (Collective) MilanoSoundesign ‘Alarmi Lamp’, Milan Design Week, Italy

2006 Maggio, T (Collective) Sottospirito, product: ‘Baciami Ice Lolly Stick’ for del Biondo s.r.l. Milan, Italy

2006 Maggio, T (Collective) Universal House!, Milan Design Week, Italy

2006 Maggio, T (Collective) Milano Oblique, Macef, Milan Trade Fair, Italy

​2005-2006. Maggio, T (Co-Curator): R.A.M ‘Your Creative Space’ Milan, Italy – Istanbul, Turkey-Berlin, Germany (design week)