In an interview published last Friday by Contemporary art critic and historian Leonardo Regano, Olnick Spanu Art Program artist Stefano Arienti—who created La Biblioteca (Library) for the Garrison house in 2012—discussed his late artistic background, as well as his ideology on rejuvenating the art of the past through mass consumerism products. This is the main theme of his current exhibition aptly titled Antipolvere (Anti-Dust), now on display at the Civic Gallery of Modena, Italy, through July 16, 2017.

Antipolvere is a collective of Arienti’s works created since the middle of the new millennium. Curated by Daniele de Luigi and Serena Goldoni, it showcases the rich juxtaposition between his conceptions of courtly subjects depicted on generic, everyday materials such as photocopies, wrapping paper, comic books and phone directories.

“I’m enraptured by these widespread, everyday consumer products and the idea of recovering their precise characteristics as such in order to see the rapport they have with art and its creation,” Arienti said.

Due to his late blossoming as an artist, he considers himself to be an autodidact whose techniques and stylings flourished on the job. His pieces tend to collaborate with the audience and space, giving a new meaning to each installation every time they are displayed.

Looking back at the beginnings of the Contemporary art movement, Arienti sees a shift between then and now in the way this type of art is viewed.

“If you ask me what has changed in this rapport today, I can tell you that people didn’t truly know what Contemporary art was a few years ago; this brought a kind of distrust in the interaction that today is less seen. We could say that Contemporary art has almost become a daily presence, a mass phenomenon.”