Getting to Know Antonio Pauciulo

Antonio Pauciulo is a contemporary Italian artist currently residing in Leipzig, Germany. His most recent body of work (2014 – 2019) includes several series that circumvent traditional, formal representations of human figures and human experience. Indeed, it is the artist’s intent, rather, to bridge the gap between a subject’s inner world and outer world; this process is known as ‘creative apperception’. Pauciulo explores this concept in various ways. His “array” series presents enlarged outlines of human heads, no representation of apparent human features, and a medley of colors and spatula-work, integrating and expressing sensitive colors and patterns. The viewer is immersed in a color-field that explodes and provokes an emotional, introverted reaction. The “BAS painting” series also includes a recognizable outline, full-figures rather than profiles. Within these outlines, the artist explores “artificial fields” through spatula-work, colors and patterns, that challenge what the viewer believes to initially recognize in the work. The effect on the viewer is, again, introspective, which is the artist’s intention: “My ambition is to provoke an encounter between a person and a painting” (AP, 2017).