Ars Photo/Grafica

Born in Italy, Gesualdo Romeo came to the US with his family during his teens. He later returned to Italy to study art and literature in Perugia and Rome. He then attended the American Art Academy and other art workshops in Chicago studying portraiture and figurative drawing. As by a process of slow maturation he later discovered in photography an ideal medium providing a freer outlet for his contemplative and introspective outlook. As with a child with his first toy camera, he still discovers sheer amazement at the viewfinder's "magic eye", with its seemingly independent ability to capture perfectly balanced images and engaging visual narratives. Digital manipulation of photographic images, to which he now finds himself drawn, appears to well complement and renew his enduring interest in all the visual arts that explore essential metaphysical themes.

Artist Statement:

PERCIPIO, ERGO SUM
I PERCEIVE, THEREFORE I AM

I draw inspiration for my work for the most part from the various and diverse images of the urban landscape. My perceptual search finds its ultimate purpose and gratification in the employment of the computer as a tool of digital enhancement and manipulation of photographic sources.
My aim is to capture, distill and reduce to essential metaphysical symbols the various images (visual scapes) which typify the city. Time and space are largely mental constructs (cogito) which structure our perceptions, and are therefore inherently subjective and ultimately elusive.The computer and now the digital camera, by employing binary code to represent, encapsulate, and reproduce every aesthetic element of the photographic image, has irrevocably dispelled its perceptual unity, thus dissolving the (viewer's illusion of) unity of time and space within which it appears to exist. Thus, stripped, the image has no choice but to revert to the mutable and elusive pre-conceptual fluidity of the viewer's mind. And what amazing worlds unfold right before his eyes when this happens! Photographic images, whether computer or photo-chemically generated are permanent visual condensations, capturing a specific point along the time-space continuum, which we can willingly re-enter at any time. In fact, they depend on us for their very existence and meaning. They point at us in "the-here-now", trading a view of their past for a glimpse of "our" future.

Exhibitions:

1983 American Society of Artists, Oak Park.
1984 Art Town, Oak Park.
1992 Park Forest Art Center, Park Forest.
1994 Merchandise Mart, Chicago.
1995 Roberto Lopez Gallery, Chicago.
1996 Around the Coyote, Chicago.
1998 Gallery 203, Chicago.
2001 Around the Coyote, Chicago.
2002 Harrison Art Cooperative, Oak Park.
2002 Triton College, River Grove.
2003 Gallery Chicago, Chicago.
2005 Gallery 1633, Chicago.
2006 Anatomically Correct Gallery, Highland Park.
2007 Oak Park Art League, Oak Park.
2008 Morpho Gallery, Chicago.

1983 American Society of Artists, Oak Park.
1984 Art Town, Oak Park.
1992 Park Forest Art Center, Park Forest.
1994 Merchandise Mart, Chicago.
1995 Roberto Lopez Gallery, Chicago.
1996 Around the Coyote, Chicago.
1998 Gallery 203, Chicago.
2001 Around the Coyote, Chicago.
2002 Harrison Art Cooperative, Oak Park.
2002 Triton College, River Grove.
2003 Gallery Chicago, Chicago.
2005 Gallery 1633, Chicago.
2006 Anatomically Correct Gallery, Highland Park.
2007 Oak Park Art League, Oak Park.
2008 Morpho Gallery, Chicago.

A passionate lover of the energy of urban life, Gesualdo Romeo ("Aldo") takes to the streets with his camera, shoots the ordinary sights that attract him, and then transforms his base images, through physical, chemical and digital interventions, into "panscopic visions" that breathe vitality into the everyday.
Whether Aldo is solarizing a print to make its subject glow with fire, using a wide-angle lens to stretch our vision to the limits or confecting wild and witty surrealistic scenes in the computer, process is always a servant of revisualization in his images. Aldo wants us to see the energy of the city in its manifold forms as he feels it, so that we can experience it with the same vibrancy and intensity that he does; his images are incitements that propel us into emotional responses that we overlook in our preoccupied practical life.
Above all, Aldo is a consummate lover of the graphic image - his ingenuity, mastery of multiple techniques and intelligent sensitivity join to make his images much more than aesthetic objects; they are gateways to experiencing joy in the streets for ourselves.
---Michael Weinstein, contributing writer, NEW CITY and CHICAGO READER

I draw inspiration for my work for the most part from the various and diverse images of the urban landscape. My perceptual search finds its ultimate purpose and gratification in the employment of the computer as a tool of digital enhancement and manipulation of photographic sources.
My aim is to capture, distill and reduce to essential metaphysical symbols the various images (visual scapes) which typify the city.

Publications:
2004 Prairie Light Review