Born in Rome in 1979, Alessandro Scarabello lives and works between Rome, Florence and Brussels.
He stands out for his radical attitude towards painting. Embracing change as a distinct characteristic in his work, Scarabello explores figuration, as well as abstraction, by breaking down forms in an alternation between rawness and beauty.
His paintings are caustic, challenging the very notion of the same tradition from which he draws strong inspiration. The artist depicts subjects who react to societal pressures and expectations, conveying awkwardness, latent derailment, resistance and unprocessed emotions.
His latest phase expresses a formal radicalization, as well as an inclination for synthesis, examining resistance and compliance, attempt and defeat, and the variables, all as material with unexplored potential that can become an interpretive key to reality: a place from which to restart in order to reaffirm that no choice or form, if autonomous, is ever wrong when remaining only what it is.
In addition to his artistic practice, Alessandro Scarabello co-founded and co-directs MODO, a cultural association for contemporary art based in Brussels. He is also professor of painting at the New Academy of Fine Arts (NABA) in Rome.
Among his solo and group shows: Restless Picture, The Gallery Apart, Rome 2024; Land In Land Out, Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence 2024; Italian Painting Today, Triennale, Milan 2023; Repetition Kills, MEF-Museo Ettore Fico, Turin 2022; I Still Paint, The Gallery Apart, Rome 2020; Uppercrust, Palazzo della Corgna, Castiglione del Lago, (Perugia) 2019; Rendez Vous, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium-Musèe Old-Masters Museum, Brussels 2018. He has been invited to several biennial events, including: the Bienal del Fin del Mundo in South America; Biennial for Mediterranean Countries, Alexandria, Egypt; the Biennial of Tunis, and the Biennale dei Giovani artisti di Monza.
CV
2015 MFA, Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK), Ghent, Belgium
2004 BFA, Academy of Fine Arts, Rome, Italy
SOLO SHOWS
2024 Restless Picture, The Gallery Apart, Rome, Italy
2022 Repetition Kills, curated by Andrea Busto, MEF - Museo Ettore Fico, Turin,
Italy
2020 I Still Paint, The Gallery Apart, Rome, Italy
2019 Uppercrust, curated by Marcello Smarrelli, Palazzo della Corgna,
Castiglione del lago, Italy
2016 The Garden of Phersu, The Gallery Apart,Rome, Italy
2013 Uppercrust, The Gallery Apart, Rome, Italy
2010 Nous voulons, The Gallery Apart, Rome, Italy
2009 Alessandro Scarabello at Rialtosantambrogio, c/o The Gallery Apart, Rome,
Italy
Inside3, The Gallery Apart, Rome, Italy
2006 Tre di Tre, Antica Fornace Laterizi, Serra de Conti (Ancona), Italy
2005 LifeinLines, Sala 1 c/o The Gallery Apart, Rome,Italy
GROUP SHOWS
2024 Cantieri Montelupo 2023/2024, curated by Christian Caliandro, Montelupo, Italy
2023 Land In Land Out, curated by Modo asbl with Francesca Sborgi, Uffizi Museum,
Florence, Italy
2023 Italian Painting Today, curated by Damiano Gulli, Triennale, Milan
Ettore Fico, Dialoghi contemporanei Un’artista un museo una collezione,
curated by Andrea Busto, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice
2022 Eclettica!, curated by Andrea Busto, MEF – Museo Ettore Fico, Turin, Italy
2021 Pittura Pittura Pittura, Marignana Gallery, Venice
2020 Refolded Percorsi meta-artistici, curated by Luiss Master of Art,
Pastificio Cerere, Rome
2019 Phantasma, Francesca Antonini gallery, Rome, Italy
Silenzioso, mi ritiro a dipingere un quadro, curated by Lorenzo Madaro,
Renata Fabbri gallery, Milano, Italy
Graffiare il presente,curated by Daniele Capra, Casa Testori, Milano,
Italy
2018 Rendez Vous, Hans Op De Beeck, Alessandro Scarabello and Serena Fineschi,
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Museeoldmastersmuseum, Brussels,
Belgium
Rendez Vous, Hans Op De Beeck, Alessandro Scarabello and Serena Fineschi,
Italian Cultural Center, Brussels, Belgium
2017 Prix Mediatine, Cultural Center - Wolubilis Mediatine, Brussels, Belgium
2016 Grand Hotel, Temple University, Rome, Italy
2015 Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice,
Italy
Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin,
Italy
Final show, KASK, Ghent, Belgium
Close up, Palazzo Collicola, Spoleto, Italy
What is your poison?, Croxhapox, Ghent, Belgium
Bienal del fin del mundo, 4th Edition, Mar Del Plata, Argentina;
Valparaiso, Chile; Punta Arenas, Chile; Ushuaia
2014 Don't steal my moment, collaboration of KASK-School of Arts Ghent and
Kunstacademie Düsseldorf, KASK, Ghent, Belgium
2013 Biennial of Monza for young artists, Villa Reale, Monza, Italy
Tw(in)er, c/o Ex Elettrofonica gallery, Internazionali BNL Italia, Central
Stadium, Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
2012 Centro Periferia, Federculture, group show of the winners, Palazzo delle
Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
Combat Prize, group show of the finalists, Museo Civico G. Fattori,
Leghorn, Italy
2010 Impresa Pittura, curated by Raffaele Gavarro and Claudio Libero Pisano,
CIAC – International Center
for Contemporary Art, Genazzano (Rome) , Italy
Image et Mirage, 6th Biennial of Tunis, Palais Khereddine, Tunis, Tunisia
2009 Aftermath, 25th Biennial for Mediterranean Countries, Alexandria Art
Museum, Alexandria, Egypt
Nuove Creatività del Mondo, Federculture, Italian Chamber of Deputies,
Rome, Italy
Studiovisit, A review on works by Italian artists, SPACE Galeria Priestor
c/o 26cc, Bratislava, Slovakia
2008 Streams of consciousness, curated by Cecilia Casorati, Palazzo Grassi,
Chioggia (Venice),
Italy Experimenta – The Farnesina Collection, Italian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Rome, Italy
Studiovisit, A review on works by Italian artists, 91mq Art Project Space
c/o 26cc, Berlin, Germany
UP-ART, The Gallery Apart, Rome, Italy
2007 Nuovi Pittori della Realtà, PAC – Contemporary Arts Pavilion, Milan, Italy
Nuovi Realisimi, 58th edition of Premio Michetti, Michetti Foundation,
Francavilla al Mare, Italy
Spazi Aperti 5, Academy of Romania, Rome, Italy
2006 Futuro/Presente – Nuove Creatività del Mondo, Federculture, Rome, Italy
2004 Architetture, Franco Maria Ricci Library, Milan, Italy
2003 Giovane Figurazione, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, Italy
2002 L’Aldilà nel mondo islamico e occidentale, Red Castle of Tripoli, Libya
2001 Visione intima, Linee della figurazione contemporanea, National Library of
Tripoli, Libya