ABOUT
ALO (Aristide Loria) is an Italian painter based in London since 2011, who has exhibited his work throughout Europe. He is a studio painter, a fine artist who develops his canvases in his studio. He is very much an artist of his time, though: the London environment and art scene led him to paint on external walls as well, using the same technique of acrylic paint, brushes, and markers that he uses for his studio canvases. He composes detailed portraits that carry strong communicative power, expressing sweetness, love, struggle, a timeless gaze, “A sense of timeless” and dignity simultaneously, in both the female and male figures he represents. His art digs deeply into the human soul, overcoming the superstructures layered on most people. ALO’s overall aesthetic is simultaneously complex and highly stylized, showcasing detailed layering and a distinctive modern liveliness. His aesthetic is the result of an intense process developed step by step between Florence, Paris, and London.
He likes to consider himself a self-taught artist although he attended one year of visual art and design in Florence, where he studied and attended drawing lessons with Professor Silvano Campeggi (the artist who created and drew the original flyers for the movies Ben Hur and Gone with the Wind), and also attended art history lessons. He quit that school because it was generally too focused on art for advertising. In London, he has exhibited and still works with BSMT Space Gallery, the Saatchi Gallery, and Jealous Gallery. He has also exhibited in Paris, where he lived and painted from June 2017 to June 2018, and was included in auctions such as Artcurial and Tajan.
ALO does not consider himself part of the Urban Art movement simply because he also paints on exterior walls. The core of his practice is rooted in studio-based canvas work; the wall pieces function as simplified extensions of that studio practice. He identifies as a fine artist, remaining deliberately detached from rigid definitions. While his work has occasionally been described as “Urban Expressionism,” he ultimately prefers to be regarded simply as a painter.
SAATCHI GALLERY / “LIMINAL”
Alo (Aristide Loria) has bridged 130 years of Art History both through his Art and his personal story. Often called the ‘Urban Expressionist’, Alo’s muses speak silently from their poised positions on the street. Discovering these paintings with their intricacy and detail, tucked in between the buildings or doorways of East London, is like stumbling across a portrait that could be found in the National gallery though they are not framed in gold but rather bricks and mortar.
Alo has brought Fine Art into an urban context in a deliberate move to make it accessible to a wider audience. He paints using traditional methods, in the dead of night and often at great risk to his own personal safety. Primarily a studio-based painter, Alo uses the same techniques for his indoor and outdoor creations, avoiding spray cans at all costs. Painting on buildings is illegal in the UK and it is widely known that very few of Alo’s Street pieces are painted with permission and he is not paid for his creations. This practice has gained him much respect on the scene but also means you can walk around the streets of London, New York, Paris and Berlin and see his paintings untouched.
‘Grace’ is a comprehensive collection of unseen paintings that have been created over the course of a few years and a unique insight into his time spent in London and Paris. Using his trademark language of pattern and colour, this repertoire of portraits captures the essence of the everyday people that have inspired him during this time.
(BSMT space Gallery)
Video produced by the Saatchi Gallery introducing the solo exhibition Liminal
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