Bibliography

Agata Chiusano

…The story always comes from the outside of painting, therefore it has no beginning and no end, it’s an event evoked without impositions.
Everyone is able to create there own story from all the details documented
by Grasso, the story is strictly personal and respects each one’s personality. Grasso’s way of painting owes everything to the Pop Art culture,
specifically in a formal manner; in fact Pop Art represented a moment of great
communication and social meditation, mood and research which nowadays would seem to be anachronistic, if not through individual chemistry, it portrays
the icons of a materialistic consumer society, which then transforms itself into an invisible form in Grasso’s painting, into the micromega cosmos of
everyday life. The human bodies become materialistic goods. The same human body, dismembered, divided and studied piece by piece becomes a tin of soup
or the ear of a cartoon mouse.
The artist’s painting at first sight may appear superficial and aesthetic, but and attentive second observation shows a painting that contains strong political
and social current issues that are far from trivial.

Angela Noya

Enrico Grasso’s suggestive creativity comes from the pleasure of catching with every detail the vision of reality. His artworks often reminds us of Domenico Gnoli ability, where the detail took on even more extreme forms. Enrico in his work draws from different sources, magic realism, Italian pop art with extravagant touches of surrealism that focuses his attention to a specific detail; he establishes an intriguing game, and every detail has the faculty to think as a whole. Each picture is a piece of a puzzle that captures us also with its accurate execution of an exemplary pictorial quality, lets also mention his three-dimensional object pictures that even if they have the consistence of a gadget combine elegance to great mastery, in play and for fun, but definitely not mundane.

Carlotta Monteverde

How does one react in front of stereotypes? Illustrating reality as proposed from only clichés, helps making the moment of comprehension faster and striking or completely unbearable? If we were to recognize ourselves in these stereotypes, what is our reaction: shock, compliance or indifference? Around the high definition of human behaviour in connection with the trivializing simplification, that Enrico Grasso’s work tries to clarify. In the meantime, it divides the world between forced aspirations towards scenes of unreal perfection, the need to identify oneself in safe pre packed role models and free from suffocating conditions, represents his own line of thought with simple agility, captivating perhaps, but terribly far apart.

Daniela Vaccher

In Enrico Grasso’s piece a bride awaiting her wedding ceremony or better still the uncertainty of her choice, next to her, the other, ifs overlooking. The still life figures represent the doubt that could generate an apodictic bond with a common stereotype. Highlighted is the great question of the female identity, the roles that have always accompanied women and that very often have been imposed and which risk to be perceived as dresses without bodies. Enrico captures the woman in this particular moment, surrounded by her uncertainties in search for personal and solid reasons to exist.

Duccio Trombadori

Eye, body and poetry
The detail of the human body in a diffuse light at an indeterminate hour of the day, that shows and measures shapes that are already smooth down by the
colours, naked skin or the silhouette of a limb when it is moulded by the fabric of this shirt or of a soft woollen sock.
Grasso is subtle and less obsessive than Gnoli, Grasso’s painting exposes in this matter his world of micro illustrations gathered from pure observation,
of which his hands intend to be a meticulous register, avoiding any minimum emotional variation. Object-body, object-eye, tend to fit into the ready made expression with the breath of a pint brush that modules the surface until it does not smooth down the spaces, collocations and harmonizes the colour forms. We can admire the inlay of rows that suddenly surprise us with the hem of a skirt, or a slightly unbuttoned blouse that, in turn, instantly enounces the female element without a face that first of all is a cold flash of light, colour, then it cuts into shapes, diagonals, convex angles as if they are all simultaneously moved closer on different levels.
The colours, black, beige, blue and horizontal stripes and vertical patterns, embroidery and ornaments, in an alternative geometric fantasy
of a tie – a shirt – a waistcoat, which is the background of the appearance of an arm and slightly uncovered breast.
The description of the painting illustrates the multicoloured visual theory exposed by Enrico Grasso, the main appeal consists in his motifs not
being repeatedly trivial, joints, edges, zips, buttons, precious material are alternated with friezes, little bracelets, placed in light as if to emphasize the silhouette of arms – legs – ankles – wrist – nipples – nails – hands. Their perceptible corporeity reproduced by a photo lens.
This is “Elegia del Corpo”, no story and no face, the reason for this is the inspiration of his representational art thattranslated the realistic detailed
expressions into a series of visual response where the emotional element couples itself with the singular clear description.
That is why for Enrico Grasso, apparently a motionless artist, life seems worth being appreciated, with his still shots he is able to produce a visual story which gives intimacy in each imaginable moment the valuable effect of a composed classic.

Giorgio Di Genova

Dear Grasso
I have received your photos of your artworks. I find your work very interesting and for your ironic revisitation of the perspective of pop art especially Rosenquist (the spaghetti) and Wasselmann (but with purified erotic expression), with echoes to hyperrealism. Obviously, you can perceive your past in the advertising graphic world. It is a shame that you started late in life as a painter, because if you had started before 2000 I could have included you in my volume of the history of Italian art of ‘900’s which now is concluded.
Yours sincerely.

Ludovico De Luigi

We can only justify Enrico’s vision of reality by appreciating his art work.
In fact, the choice of dimensions play an important role in developing thoughts about a mega micro cosmos.
Any reproduction will cancel the identity of the paintings evoked because of the oversized dimensions used. The directions that he follows in his art is attributed to the overseas experience with Domenico Gnoli, that fatalistically has taken Enrico on to follow the role of a poet and author of paintings.
The single detail of a solitary theme, that can be a button, or the knot of a tie, precision and mastery are confronted with other models – objects, so therefore from a monologue it becomes a dialogue to finally reach the poetic story created by Enrico’s artistic talent.
It will be interesting to see how his work will develop, for it is quiet evident that he has still a lot to communicate.

Paolo Balmas, mostra “Lupus in fabula”

Grasso lives his cult for the particular on the border line of hyper-realism, of which he turns into a humorous, hypnotic homage about the cohabitation of human beings and animals.

Santa Fizzarotti Selvaggi

The artist describes with sharp and subtle irony the mass media world, the outlook on reality, which lacks the eye, mind, brain and reasons of the heart. In Enrico Grasso’s works, everything appears definite as in a stereotyped document useful only to avoid that man finds productive rivulets of creative thought, of the person’s uniqueness.

Stefania Severi

Poetry of the object
Grasso’s paintings are rightly part of the Italian painting tradition, with openings to surrealism and American Pop Art.
Grasso paints “Things” or enlarged fragments, so as to leave the spectator the task of reconstructing same time he wants the spectator to focus his attention on specific detail that he has emphasized as being a contemporary icon.
The technique of using the fragment taken from the strip is brought to our notice as if to underline a subtle game between presence and absence.
The object estranged from its context assumes specific features that in turn seem to break the barriers in a surrealistic world.