Collages that reassemble reality to touch the emotions

Artist, graphic designer, and curator Giona Maiarelli, born in Italy and living in the United States for more than twenty-five years, stands as a bridge between two cultures. His work focuses on collage, a medium shaped by randomness and serendipity, blending intuition and tactile elements with an aesthetic sensibility that honors the ability of art to create unexpected and meaningful connections.

“For What’s in a Lamp?, Maiarelli has assembled a series of collages that weave Italian culture into a deep dive into the American collective imagination. Foscarini’s iconic lamps, including Aplomb, Binic, Caboche, Chouchin, Nuée, and Spokes, are at the core of these works, combined with imagery from vintage magazines, books, and photographs, creating unique visual compositions that highlight the distinctive aesthetics of each lamp, while placing them within the context of the American myth with accents that are sometimes ironic, sometimes romantic.

“My goal was to explore the tension between the refined Italian aesthetics of Foscarini lamps and the pragmatic ruggedness of the American landscape,” says Maiarelli. In his artistic interpretation, Caboche becomes a circular jewel paired with American water towers, while Spokes, with its rays, evokes the chaotic tangle of electricity lines where birds rest. Chouchin, on the other hand, transforms into a flying object, referencing the American fascination with extraterrestrial phenomena. Each lamp thus becomes the protagonist of a visual narrative that blends design with storytelling, aesthetics with imagination.

Discover more about this collaboration and the full series by Giona Maiarelli on Foscarini’s Instagram channel @foscarinilamps. Explore all the works in the What’s in a Lamp? project, where international artists are invited to interpret light and Foscarini lamps.

Hi Giona, can you tell us about your artistic journey? How did you come to embrace the art of collage, and what does this form of expression represent for you?

At the beginning of my career as a graphic designer, I loved recycling paper scraps and cardboards used in presentations into a collage. I saw expressive possibilities in the waste of my work. Then came a long break dedicated to my profession, though I was always drawn to Dadaism and collage, particularly the works of artist and poet Jiří Kolář. Finally, in 2016, I decided to return to my passion.
“Rediscovering” collage years later meant rediscovering the pleasure of creating with my hands, which, as intermediaries between the mind and the paper, become active parts in the creation process. Paper cutouts move on the cardboard, intuition turns into action, until the composition reveals itself. But the cycle is not complete until the collage is seen by an audience. It is only when I see the collage through someone else’s eyes that the cycle is finished.

Your approach to collage is immediately recognizable and unique. How would you describe your style? What are the distinctive elements that define it?

Serendipity plays a fundamental role in my compositions: even when I intend to communicate a specific idea, the collage refuses to be accommodating and reveals expressive and compositional possibilities I hadn’t considered.
Then there’s the pleasure of surprise: finding a book from which to cut out images in a second-hand bookstore, discovering potential in images I initially discarded, and finally, the surprise of a composition that happens by chance on the page. Each series of collages starts with a theme, but instinct plays an essential part.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Inspiration arises alongside the work. When I start a collage series, I don’t have an idea in mind, only the material I’ve decided to work with, chosen based on an intuition. After a few hours, or sometimes a few days, ideas emerge on their own through the work itself.

What attracts you most in the reality around you, and how do you translate these suggestions into your work?

Most of the collage series I’ve produced are explorations of my personal American imagination: the landscapes of the American West, the modernist architecture of post-war skyscrapers in New York, and the California Case Study houses, the old Hollywood, the pages of the New York Times. Perhaps unconsciously, I’m processing my decision to move to the United States, reclaiming images that were already present in my subconscious.

For the “What’s in a Lamp?” project with Foscarini, you created compositions that associate lamps with evocative images, sometimes ironic, sometimes poetic. Can you reveal the inspiration and creative process behind this work?

For What’s in a Lamp?, I wanted to place Foscarini lamps in an American context. It seemed like the most obvious choice, given that I live in the United States, and the American visual heritage is part of my artistic vocabulary.

In this series, the dialogue between the two cultures, Italian and American, is very clear. How do these two realities meet and blend in your compositions?

My goal was to explore the tension between the refined Italian aesthetics of Foscarini lamps and the pragmatic roughness of the American landscape, playing with the size and contrast between the color images of the products and the black-and-white images of the landscapes. In the end, these two worlds, so seemingly distant, melted into an embrace, sometimes ironic, sometimes poetic.

What specific elements of the American collective imagination did you bring into the collages you created for “What’s in a Lamp?”

The form and material of the lamps suggested certain paths. Caboche appeared as a precious circular jewel to pair with an austere element of the American landscape, like water tanks. Aplomb fit into the face of the “ideal” American man, created by combining the portraits of five American presidents, replacing his open, glowing light with a telegenic smile. Spokes, with its delicate rays, refers to the chaotic electricity wires that tangle in the American skies, from which birds watch us, reminding us of its vocation as an elegant aviary. Binic reminded me of a bright full moon and led me towards images related to America’s exploration of our satellite. I knew from the start that at least one of the lamps would become a flying object, a typically American phenomenon and source of naïve conspiracy theories. This fate befell Chouchin, shiny and technically perfect, like I imagine a flying object from a more evolved civilization might be, catching passersby by surprise. Nuée is a light, airy cloud that intercepts our daring diver and takes her on a magical journey.

Which artists or influences have most contributed to the formation of your artistic vision? Who do you consider your masters?

The Czech artist and poet Jiří Kolář, whom I mentioned earlier, has had a great influence on my work. And also the carefree attitude of the Dada and Futurist movements.

Do you have a ritual or follow habits when working on your collages?

Music, always.

What is creativity to you?

My mentor, Milton Glaser, used to say that creativity doesn’t exist; only imagination does. Creativity is nothing but the ability to imagine, and then create, worlds that don’t yet exist.