New York – A Waterfront Gallery (2023)

The Exodus series presents works exploring monetary values in their form of accumulation and transformation while revealing their traveled paths and the impacts they cause within society over time.

Frangioni, a self-taught artist (1967), produces symbols embedded in the human mind, such as miniature piggy banks and charging bulls offering the public a new perception of financial stability and its relationship with current ethical and moral values.

The artist’s constant search for new materials, in this case, 3D print technology and real coins as currency, permits interposing these monetary symbols based on collective narrative issues involving values, time, and memory of historical societies and how they reflect in the contemporary frame of mind.

As in the previous series, the symbol/matter union promotes an investigation of possible dialogues between past political-economic actions and the outcome of current societies.

From the artist’s point of view, history has shown a massive migration of people, known as Exodus. A clear example is the striking case of the occupation of Manhattan, not only during its period of colonization but later during an intense period at the beginning of the 20th century with the entry of immigrants from Europe through its known Ellis Island. As a result, its current consolidation is one of the largest metropolises financial centers in the world.

For this exhibition, Exodus in NY, Frangioni evokes an artistic conceptual discourse on a site-specific titled “Exodus in Brooklyn”, combining two series of his production, Exodus and Codes. In addition, a three- dimensional aesthetical body of work from 2016 to the present.

The juxtaposition of these two series focuses on the reflection of how experiences affect our lives. Exodus series depicts movement and transformation. Code series discusses the relationship between physical and virtual space, inverting perceptions, as a critique of interpersonal behaviors in contemporary societies and its relation to technology, communication, consumption, sustainability, and agility.

The advancement of technologies and unfolding new demands within populations guide the diffusion of the virtual, be it space, person, action, or information. In addition, with the dense intervention of these new types of machinery, an unexpected challenge arises, understanding to what extent the virtual takes us closer or further from reality.

In this context, Frangioni leads his thoughts by mixing these concepts where site-specific Exodus in Brooklyn emerges.

By reading the QR Code in the artwork, viewers access a cultural experience connecting all artistic elements by the artist and extend its complexity into a point of reflection on what sense we are living life.

Curated by Carly Aguilera