“Imagine a world based on a different logic; a universe comprised of the absurd and paradoxes. A dream in which aircraft crash into clouds and snowmen model a human body using flakes of skin,” writes French artist Bruno Pontiroli. “My aim is turn the narrow vision that we have of the world upside down and disturb our imagination while shaking an accepted reality with images that are as comprehensible as they are familiar. Distorting a symbol or mixing opposing universes allows me to question the identity of things so that I can reinvent them.”

 

 

In Bruno’s fascinating and disturbing body of work, animal and human anatomy is stretched into long tubes and cut with scissors. Identities merge, a fish-woman “carries herself”. A man stares at his fatty stomach – spread out before him as chunks of flesh.

An admirer of René Magritte, Roland Topor, Rubens and Rembrandt, Bruno finds inspiration in situations, books and images that surround him. A  simple photo of a camel can be the basis for a new painting. “Upon seeing my work for the first time,” he says, “people often refer to Surrealism and Dadaism. I wouldn’t want to categorise it. What I try to do is propose another version of reality, a different way of seeing things. When looking at my paintings, people seldom remain impassive, they either love or detest, find it funny or even macabre…and they usually share their opinion, discuss it. And to be honest that is what I like, what I am looking for.”

Bruno is represented by Fousion Gallery in Barcelona. He lives in Montreuil, an eastern suburb of Paris.

Links: Website (brunopontiroli.com) | Instagram (www.instagram.com/brunopontiroli) | Facebook (www.facebook.com/pontirolibruno)

Images used with permission.