The Art of Saul Zanolari: Taking Away The Emperor's Clothes

Dark, disturbing, and intriguing are the adjectives that define the work of Saul Zanolari. When viewing his series of dolls, you could easily say "The Emperor is naked." Discover the world of Swiss born artist Saul Zanolari, a world where fake identities are stripped away and the subjects are left raw and naked. Among his characters are European royalty, rock stars, elite socialites, and old and new celebrities.

For many people in the public eye, plastic surgery is the Emperor's new clothes. It is used to add a new veneer of skin to a PR personality. We are always unsure how many layers of plastic public figures use to create their PC persona.

In his artwork, Zanolari sucks out the botox, unpicks the stitches and removes the fake public face from his subjects. He shows us the vulnerable person behind the mask. His collection of images contains a surreal 2D wax museum, made of a mixture of fantasy and reality, thoughts, concepts and images. The digitally remastered psyche is embalmed forever in its frozen world. Zanolari creates a new artistic amalgam - not photography, not digital imagery, not painting, but a complex fusion of all three.

Saul Zanolari first exhibited in 2005 in a gallery in Milan. His works are now featured in permanent collections in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Basel, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo.
The artist lives in Morbio Inferiore, by Lake Como, and shares his time between Shanghai and Switzerland.

Courtesy Saul Zanolari

" A Portrait Apart," is currently on view at Porter/Contemporary, New York

June 9 - September 10, 2011
This post is also featured on the Huffington Post