joseph nero

The aesthetic of decay

I hope to explore the ancient art throughout the cities and towns and analyze not only the formal aspects of its original production but also the aesthetic result of time and circumstance. While the great collections (the Vatican, Museo Borghese, Uffizzi) including the Riace bronzes, are certainly a wealth of information to research, I believe that I can get just as much information from the ignored masterpieces, maybe even unattributed, found in the less traveled parks and walkways, often broken or covered in moss or dirt. It is through my research that I hope to investigate how art continues to affect our aesthetic perception even as it supposedly “decays” over time…

…Although I was born in the United States I have been back to Italy a few times and really feel a bond with the land and culture that even surpasses my childhood hometown. Beyond my artistic philosophy I think there is a personal spiritual value to working in the land that my ancestors came from. I truly believe that there is a “memory” so to speak, in my blood that I would love to reawaken.