Presentation of Dino Cassone

«Abandon prejudice all ye who enter here”, could be this the phrase engraved on the “Universe of Scarlet Lovejoy” front door, in which are perfectly syntheses the Inferno of transgression, the Purgatory of irreverence and the Paradise of artistic talent. An universe where there are no middle ground : Marco Iannaccone , aka Scarlet Lovejoy , inspires adoration or irritation. Just looking his social profile first and his works later, let understand that we have an artist here: baroque, pop, irreverent and highly provocative. He use define himself both the artist and the person ” over the top, who loves to explore the possibilities to reinvent myself and be someone else . A diva, to all appearances , not only a woman but also a man. Each of us has a male side and a female side. I put both in my life.” In short , no tormented attitude.

A heterogeneous, complex and not easy to interpret universe, it must be said. First because we are faced with a technique of expression in itself original: photography contaminated with graphics. With a master degree in “Photography as an art language” at Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, Iannaccone fancy himself a ” Photo / Graphic ” , while recognizing how difficult is to find a definition.

It’s hard remain indifferent to the Work produced by Marco / Scarlet thus far . “GliArcaniSvelati” (Arcana Revealed) and “Santitàmetropolitane” (Metropolitan Holiness) are plentiful, with their striking black and white ,of constant references to, the american Robert Mapplethorpe. The first project’s pictures are distressing and dense of dark secrets, as if to reveal , just like mysterious old cards , the most blacks sides of today’s society. In the second, the religious iconography are mixed with customary: ancients martyrs who are part of collective imagination become currents martyrs . And there between noble profiles of fascinating saints and the suffering faces of matresdolorosae , stands the artist himself ” crucified ” by the ills of the world.

Pop references, often border on grotesque, can be find into “Plastic Trash Art “, where Marco / Scarlet holds hands with us and drags us into his personal vision of masterpieces: “Ophelia” by Millet, Frida Kahlo, “Medusa” by Caravaggio, “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo, even Botticelli, Michelangelo, Bocklin, Goya, Picasso and many others, in a crescendo that brings us up to the personification of the artist himself in “The Scream” by Munch . A scream of “creative despair ” that finds its culmination in the beautiful original composition entitled “Mors Partenope – Abyssusabyssuminvocat”.

In “Homebook” we can see references to the surreal and grotesque baroque works of American photographer David LaChapelle. The varied occupants of a condo are observed , without inhibitions, through a ruthless peephole: women reach the limit as the suicidal bride “AbbanDonata”, the lost “Nancy Brilla” , the diva “Marylin Star” or the devout “Signora Trapassati”; or scenes of ordinary madness, as “A.Cornate”, “Bondage &Clyd “, “Croce &Delizia – S.M System” and “C.DannoE.Beffa”.In “Sindrome di Saturno” (Syndrome of Saturn) the inspiration is the melancholy that takes shape through author’s personal memories: autumn leaves, desolate landscapes, places of undoubtedly departures and abandonments, objects, shadows, stairs and roads. In this series of poignant shots it comes out overpowering the eclecticism of Marco/Scarlet and his skillful use of color or black and white. Further in “Lost” the leading thread that pervades the shots is the sense of loss: loved ones, hair, trains, virginity , to the bleak loss of innocence or even life itself. Marco/Scarlet let us see that gays can even lost their lives simply coming out, or transsexuals their identity, so how we can lose our mind and our inner self . The author explains it with lightness and irony , without losing his personal filter of dramatic nature.The same filter the artist uses to analyze some crimes, transforming them in instants of pure art into the project ” Società in arresto” (Society arrest). Crimes committed for trivial things such as exclusion from social world or trash TV, and more heavy and horrible, like infanticide, femicide or committed for widespread economic crisis. It couldn’t miss Church and its crimes hidden among colonnades and sacristy: pedophilia and homosexuality latent or manifest.

“Self Photo Words” deserves specific mention, where is condensed all the stylistic and visionary art of Marco/Scarlet just for one sole protagonist: himself. Self-portraits, many irreverent as “La truccataSindone” or “… E quanto ci piacechiacchierà!!!, many others inspire purest reflection, because they treat of loneliness that leads to suicide or psychological violence of mass media. Wonderful the sculptural use of hands that frame his face in the foreground, in “Noli Me Tangere”, which is not the artist’s snobbiness to whisper the evangelical phrase, but a desire of preservation from ugliness that surround himself.

Summa of provocations and double on Marco/Scarlet art, in my humble opinion, is in the heartbreakingly beautiful shots of ” Intimacy reflected” (Intimitàriflessa). The subject of transexuality and the mystery of genetic is treated with poetic sensuality, with painful pride of body “in evolution”, where every detail it’s no coincidence as deliberately dirty feet of the subject portrayed, a Caravaggio style sensuality.

In “Identità Smarrite” (Identities lost) we find a series of figures, diverse in genre and time, all faceless, depersonalized and distressing. Desperate souls screaming in search of their identities; as Marco/Scarlet said: “We have even lost face”. A result of awareness that personality is slowly disappearing, we are oriented towards the massification and be and remain “different” is still frightens many. Solo protagonist of these shots is the artist, hidden under many dresses.

Last Addendum of Marco/Scarlet works is the series of shots entitled “Pietas morbi”: breathtakingly beautiful. Beautiful because courageous, proving that it’s possible create art from pain. Inspiration is a friend of the artist, struggling with his personal ordeal, it’s the representation of pain. His friend is sick and Marco/Scarlet catches him with raw accuracy, the folds and the deepest wounds. A powerful body that reveals all his fragility, while the features of his fascinating face remain proud, despite altered by suffering. But Marco/Scarlet is there, next to his friend, always vigilant and present with all his love which becomes an artistic masterpiece in the explosive transfiguration of the “Pieta” by Michelangelo.

The new produccion of Iannaccone promises neither scandals nor provocations but many suggestions. That’s not looked on lightly. In fact, our artist, in the 16 pictures works called “Essential Concert of Earth and Sky” – with his visionary and mindful of cosmic beauty eye – pursues places, Engadina valley, that inspired Giovanni Segantini ( one of the greatest Divisionism exponents). Let the Iannaccone’s magic shots take you silently: a hug made of dazzling colour and beneficial heat.

In 2018 we see the artist Scarlet in a new exciting provocation. Sixty-six shots, divided into groups of six for a series of eleven scenes, under the emblematic title: “Re-discover oneself”. With this new project, our artist plays with his spectator, revealing the two sides of a dystopian reality, one full of useless tinsel that slowly slips into the solitude of the essential emptiness. The choice is up to him. We are inclined for the second, using a sentence by the German painter Hans Hofmann “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak”

And then, suddenly, here comes in 2019 the last provocation: “Zeitgeist”, or “Tragedy of Pompeii 2.0”. Marco/Scarlet rises to “Spirit of our Time” and captures, setting into the wrinkles of time, the filth of today: Suicide, greed, drugs, the obsession of being always connected, racism, homophobia, eating disorders, the hypocrisy of the Church. He doesn’t mince his words, and adds dramatic dust to dust, to say that the eruption that will flood allof us is the inner unease.

Dino Cassone