WIZARD GALLERY is pleased to present Disegni da paura, a solo exhibition by Italian artist Fausto Gilberti (Brescia, 1970). Gilberti is a renowned painter and author of illustrated books, primarily known to the public for his distinctive drawings: white backgrounds, black ink, and figures reduced to their essence in indefinite settings. Despite their simplicity, his works are profoundly intimate.
On this occasion, the artist presents a new series of works, where alongside his classic subjects—stylized characters with large, wide eyes—he introduces landscapes and animals. The depiction of fear as a human emotion takes various forms from drawing to drawing, accentuated by a raw and painterly brushstroke that leaves room for mistakes, blurred horizons, and smudges.
Someone—who knows who—once said: "Art must be ambiguous. And contain a virus.” Here it is. Fausto Gilberti’s artworks create this very effect; they transform you. His symbolic evocations thrust you into enigmatic landscapes of the soul, with compact ink strokes, chaotic thunderstorms, deluged forms, and beasts. The disorienting parades of characters scrutinize you with questioning gazes from their desolate lands.
These are the words of writer Sacha Naspini, who has written a brief text for the occasion. Gilberti’s drawings tell stories about us, maintaining their characteristic humor, even if this time it is darker and more foreboding.
Fausto Gilberti’s first exhibitions took place in the late 1990s. He is the recipient of two significant awards: the “Acacia Award” in 2004 and the “Cairo Award” in 2007. He has participated in approximately one hundred exhibitions, both solo and group shows, in Italy and abroad. Recently, he has exhibited at institutions such as the Moka Hyundai Museum (Seoul, 2022), the Elgiz Museum (Istanbul, 2022), and the del Monte Foundation (Bologna, 2021). Among his recent publications, translated into numerous languages, is a newly released volume that tells the story of the renowned artist Marina Abramovic for younger audiences (Marina Abramovic, Corraini Editore, 2024).
