Paolo Grassi: Painting the book of the universe

Paolo Grassi was born in Locarno, Switzerland, on 19^th August 1959. From 1975 to 1979, he worked as an apprentice graphic designer; in 1982, he became the owner of his own studio. In 2000-2001 the artist, who gained experience in the fields of design, photography and conceptual art, devoted himself to the design and construction of Casa Lili, his current home, workshop and exhibition venue.

In 2003, he opened his first exhibition in the Cantonal Library in Locarno. The exhibition was entitled ‘Acqua Rivelatrice’ (Revealing Water). He only had to wait another year for his international consecration when he presented his solo exhibition ‘Impetus’ in Barcelona. Since then, the artist has shown his impetuous universal language to the world.

Natural philosophy is written in the most important book that has always been open and placed before our eyes. It is our universe that allows itself to be discovered! This manuscript will only be comprehensible if we first learn to recognise the characters with which it was written. The language is mathematics and the numbers are the characters. Geometry, triangles, and circles are the means to tell the human species what is hidden in the visible.

The grammar of mathematics is the means to read the words with which nature speaks to us. The dark labyrinth of research can be explained to us by those scientists, philosophers and humanists who pursue the work of deciphering the book of nature.

In his treatise ‘The Assayer’, Galileo Galilei suggests this key to understanding the universe. Studying is fundamental to learning how to read and narrate nature unless you have the gift of being an artist, or a sculptor, like Master Grassi. Driven by an innate passion for conceptual art and an adoration for aesthetics and harmony of form, artist Paolo Grassi has developed an ingenious ability to solve complex creative situations. A unique invention: describing nature using seemingly improper codes. Alphanumeric characters that we have learnt to read and write become the bricks, the graphemes of his world. Numbers, letters and graphic signs of our society trace the natural shape of nature.

Since 2007 Paolo Grassi has moved forward with devising the project ‘From ‘0’ to Infinity Artwork’, which comprises more than 285 works. Large or small exclusive pieces that together constitute the infinite work fragmented into elements. To possess a single fragment is to be the custodian of the essence of the whole.

Conceptual art provides a new guarantee; breaking free from its more physical component gives the work the flexibility of belonging while simultaneously imposing strict conditions. Just as in nature, no two snowflakes are the same, so in art, the code resulting from a logical mathematical sequence excludes the repeatability of the work.

The numbers-only project ‘From ‘0’ to Infinity Artwork’ allows the artist to communicate with mediums to use different techniques and styles that alternate to produce infinite combinations of works. The secrecy of the various techniques, materials and numerical sequences makes the artist inimitable, unique and incomparable. It is impossible to decipher the essences of which each element is composed.