Art that doesn't play it safe

METAMORPHOSIS: BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION OF SOCIAL COMMENTARY SET FOR EXHIBITION

- Hein Kaiser

Toni Bico is not interested in playing it safe and is doing finishing touches to his upcoming exhibition Metamorphosis.

It's a blunt yet immensely beautiful collection of social commentary. It is a visual commentary on what he called "the speed of now," where birds, torn canvas and installations come together to contemplate war, greed and capitalism, and a world in constant momentum.

"It started with the idea that we are living through a moment of massive change," Bico said.

"Everything, political, financial, environmental, feels like it is collapsing and rebuilding at the same time. So, the idea for the show began with deconstruction. Literally."

In one of the works in Metamorphosis he tore apart earlier paintings and stitched them into something new.

The pieces, he said, were "canvas collages" packed with meaning and emotional residue.

Birds are his metaphor. And there are a lot of them.