Giacomo Costa's (Florence, 1970) perspective on the future is based on the idea of a plethora of desolate architectures. He denounces the degradation of a world which has run out of control. Yet, this attitude is not to be regarded as a surrender to catastrophism, but rather as a signal of light and awakening.
At the same time, there is something mysterious, prophetic and even epic to his photos. Giacomo Costa builds images and utopian concepts.
His idea is not reassuring at all, but it conceals his fascination with an extremely unnatural, complex world, where the concepts of good and evil annihilate each other. Empty and full, human and non-human.
In Postnatural, Costa presents an unseen series of works: the Arene, human vestiges filtering through the deep `greenness of vegetation, something that has to do with the exploration of a near future. A stadium, an arena, a deaf and timeless Colosseum stands out in the forest, ambiguously surviving or strenuously defending the product of human building from the siege of wilderness.
Beside the Arene, a selection of works realised between 2008 and 2009 is exhibited, which allows the observer to fully understand the unmistakable poetics underlying Costa's visions: motionless views of absolute formal perfection, which mimic photography but are actually entirely drawn in 3D.
To realise his trompe l’oeil of the imminent disaster, Costa exploits the software used in the movie industry for special effects. “My 3D paintings require at least one month's work. The process of virtual realisation is very complex and is structured into two stages: first, I plan and draw a whole city, and then I take a photo of it, approaching that newly-created work exactly as I would if I had to take a photo of a real city."