Federico Solmi was born in Bologna, Italy in April 1973. He moved to New York City in September 1999, where he currently lives and works. His video-animation has been featured in some of the most prestigious events dedicated to contemporary art. His work has been exhibited in many galleries and museums exhibitions around the World (Drawing Center, New York, Victoria Memorial Museum of Calcutta, India, Contemporary Art Museum of Naples, Italy, Contemporary Art Center of Rouboix, France. His drawing-animated videos have been screened in several Film and Video festivals, as well as in established contemporary Art Fairs, including Pulse Miami, Pulse New York, Art Brussels, and Artissima.

The works of Federico Solmi were reviewed by Flash Art Magazine, Tema Celeste, Art Actuelle, Art Net.com, Animal Magazine, Exibart on Paper, JamesWagner.com, Duellanti, Dailey News, Il Mattino, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Roma.. A selected drawing from the King Kong video was featured on the cover of the January 2006 issue of Italian based contemporary art magazine Exibart on Paper. On November 2006, on Sky TV, broadcasted on the Cultural Channel Leonardo, a 60 minutes documentary of the work of the artist.

Federico Solmi is represented by, ADN Gallery, Barcellona, Fabio Paris Art Gallery, Brescia, Pascal Vanhoecke, Paris.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

As an untiring observer of the alienated scenery of the metropolitan reality, I am focusing, in my installations and videos, to analyze the paradoxical situation that modifies our approach and our attitude toward everyday life. The neurotic urban landscape, the frenetic life in the big city and the colossal contradiction of contemporary society, are the key themes on which my artistic search has been based.

Catapulted into the middle of an undecipherable reality, the protagonists of my artwork are typically lost characters, confused people who are desperately seeking their role and their identity, forced to live inside a mad and hostile society without rules. A world that inexorably continues to regenerate and to renew itself, but at the same time is falling apart in front of our eyes. The universe that I like to represent is the exaltation of a present that is crumbling. It is also a criticism of a system that approves and trusts without questioning the fragile foundation on which our culture and post-modernist society is based. To be completely honest, I am not interested to transfer to canvas the most important facts that are sculpting our age. I absolutely do not consider myself a chronicler of the current days. On the contrary, I am simply using the contemporary events to confuse and to "disinform" the viewers, with the ultimate goal to recreate and enlarge, in my installation, the common feeling of disorientation which is characteristic of the historic period that we are passing through today.