Francesco Simeti

'Arabian Nights' (2003)

Francesco Simeti’s appropriates and digitally modifies newspaper and magazine clippings from war scenes and other violent acts and re-arranges them in repetitive sequences to create images with a deliberately decorative element, that conceal an alarming sub-text. In this way, he comments on the aestheticisation of violence but also on the way in which the media often reduce horrific events to trivial episodes. Simeti is concerned with the way we consume images and information through the media but also the way that media information has different meanings or repercussions for different groups of people.

'Wallpaper is a perfect grid for me to organise and make sense of my archive of media clippings and it allows me to create hidden narratives.'

What I can appreciate and take from Simeti's work is his clever way of combining found imagery with a traditional aesthetic and technique. The wall paper is not purely decorative but driven by its comtemporary content.