BIOTOMICA

Roberto Giacomucci

“The exhibition Biotomica explores the resilience of nature—its capacity to resist, adapt, and regenerate—interpreting it not only as a biological phenomenon but also as an ontological principle. Giacomucci selects a series of stories drawn from the natural world, not only for their symbolic value but because they bear witness to an invisible struggle, one often ignored by humankind. The artist engages with plant memory as if it were his own, seeking in painterly matter a way to give voice to stories that speak of resistance, loss, and rebirth.
The title Biotomica encapsulates this tension between destruction and regeneration, between sudden violence and slow reconstruction. It merges the concept of bios, life, with that of the atom—an energy that can be both transformative and devastating. The term itself contains a paradox: the idea of nature as exploded, fragmented, yet still capable of recomposing itself, of reemerging with renewed strength. This exhibition project stems from the artist’s deep sensitivity to environmental themes. What Giacomucci has developed could be described as an osmotic relationship with nature—total immersion, even identification. The works that give life to this exhibition, in my view, reflect a (successful) attempt to recreate nature’s germinative aspects, culminating in fusion with it. The palette chosen by the artist emphasizes earthy tones—greens, browns, yellows—typical of the natural world. Colors are not used to define, but to evoke: they evoke the dust of burnt trees, the damp soil guarding ancient seeds, the volcanic rock where the first plants take root. The dominant black is not an absence, but a depth, a subterranean dimension in which everything is potentially waiting to reemerge.
From a formal perspective, these paintings stand out sharply from the background, almost like engravings. This impression is due to the particular pictorial technique used by Giacomucci, who paints in levare, or in tollera (to take away), as sculptural practice was once defined. As a result, these works assume a minimal, essential quality. This method of “subtractive” painting should not be understood merely as a stylistic choice, but as an act of excavation—a search within matter to bring to light what is already there, hidden. Giacomucci does not construct images; he frees them, allowing them to emerge from the dense black of his backgrounds, as if bringing a buried memory back to the surface. This process is directly linked to the meaning of his works: it is not about representing nature, but about revealing it in its deepest essence, as an organism struggling to make space for itself in the world. At the same time, these works—born from extensive experimentation with materials, supports, and colors—highlight the modus operandi of a research-based artist, always attentive to finding the most suitable material to express his vision and thought.
This exhibition is particularly relevant today, in a time when human and natural temporality seem to have entered into conflict. Humanity destroys with violence and speed, while nature regenerates slowly, following rhythms often imperceptible to us. Biotomica is a warning—an eruption of green reemerging where the ground has been wounded. The effect on the viewer is one of immersion in a different landscape, where the boundary between matter and time becomes fluid. The incised surfaces of the canvases evoke tree bark, the skin of the earth, the marks left by the elements on rock. Deep black becomes a space of possibility, while the emerging light bears witness to a silent resistance. Each work invites us to pause, to observe, to sense the tension between permanence and disappearance, between scars and rebirth.”

Alberto Dambruoso