Michele Servadio was born in Italy in 1986. He grew up in a small village in the Veneto countryside. Drawn to painting and drawing from an early age, Servadio attended the Art School in Padua and the University of Visual Arts in Venice. In 2007 he approached the world of tattoos, fascinated by its tradition and cultural phenomenon. He moved to London in 2010.
In his atelier in Hackney Wick, Servadio creates new projects which interconnect the different practices of tattooing, painting, printmaking, photography, and performance art. Merging these diciplines, feeding them back into one another, he creates a unique universe where he is able to explore and describe the human condition and his environment.
The aesthetics of his work is dark and melancholic; it embodies Folklore, expressionism, and the bleakness of a post-industrial scenario.
In 2014 he started to experiment with sound and tattooing. This gave birth to 'Body of Reverbs', a contemporary Ritual combining sound, pain, accupuncture and permanent marks on the body. Body of Reverbs has been presented in the form of live performances and instilations across the UK, Europe, Asia and America.
His artworks have been exhibited in England, Italy, and Germany.
Paola Pompili (SHE.LAB) is an Art Director and Graphic Designer working for major communication agencies and publishing companies; she has been collaborating with Varsi since its opening and is in charge of the graphic and editorial image of the gallery. Her love and knowledge of paper is at the basis of all her creations; recently she has combined her various skills to set up an artisan bookbinding activity related to her editorial projects.
SHE.LAB creates her works by combining her passion for graphic art and publishing in editorial projects which involve different printing techniques, hand-made bindings and a careful selection of paper. Every element that shapes the final product is specifically designed to express the work of the artist at its best.
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LIBRI ANOMALI (Anomalous Books) is an editorial project created inside Varsi Art&Lab’s art laboratory in collaboration with designer and bookbinder Paola Pompili.
LIBRI ANOMALI is an experimental project where art books disregard conventional editorial standards through original editorial proposals dedicated to fans of the genre. These small limited editions are made in collaboration with various contemporary artists and are all entirely bound by hand.
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“This book is a collection of photographs I have taken in my studio in London. It is the place where I paint and print. A temple of creation and intimate space. I felt the need to highlight the connection between the people I tattoo and the place where I create. It is an effort to transcend tattooing by celebrating the tenderness of a body that has just changed. I use photography by need. Tattoos are ephemeral; they demand to be documented. Tattooing is not just adding ink under the skin: it changes a human being and therefore modifies the environment around it. By portraying people in my studio, in front of my paintings, and making them interact with sculptures and objects, I try to comprise the practice of tattooing into the bigger picture of art creation. By stepping back with the camera, the studio becomes the stage where these people exist. I can see relationships between them and the environment. Artworks become props for portraits and people become the life characters of my paintings. I can keep track of a tattoo within the context of the body where it lives and of the environment where the person exists. Everything merges.” Servadio
29 x 40 cm
Text Editing and Translation: Venexia Editrice Paper Choice: Favini Biancoflash Natural Fedrigoni Sirio Ultra Black
Dust jacket: Imperial black cloth
Book cover: Ecological nude leather
Rome, November 2021
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