In a world where the LEDs in our “black mirrors” highlight and amplify society’s good and bad, Lighting Up Artintroduces a new language to art by using RGB LEDs to illuminate the cracks in a fragile canvas sculpture. Each work adapts to the viewer and his or her state of mind, changing its colors based on input from the observer. The work’s immense mutability and luminosity draw the viewer’s attention, engaging them on a deep level.

Light and matter, modern and ancient, form the foundation of the artist’s paintings. Through the use of stucco and the resulting formation of craquelure, Stronati transcends the barriers of the two-dimensional medium, reaching the viewer beyond the pictorial plane. Fascinated by craquelure, the artist integrates its aesthetics with the use of light. Through the cracks, light becomes the primary pictorial medium, resolutely replacing color. Thanks to the craquelure, the brushstrokes of light are able to reach the viewer with a language that is both primordial and modern. The use of colored LEDs leads the viewer along a metaphorical and conceptual path, expressing through medical analogies the indissoluble link that exists between anatomy and psyche.

All the works are constructed entirely by the artist, starting from the canvas itself. The act of construction becomes part of the artistic message, not just the final image. Being manually built, the canvases lend a touch of fragility to the works. They leave room for human imperfections and mistakes, which are part of life. The artist aims to emphasize how, in today’s world — increasingly virtual, digital, and editable — perfection appears attainable, yet remains confined within an imperfect reality.

Lights Off: Lighting Up Art is not only light. It is also matter and cracks on rough stucco. Under external light, the works take on a new, more tangible and fragile form. This third light reveals the three-dimensionality of the pieces, casting shadows that replace the glow of the works’ own LED lights.