Tommaso Durante

Warrandyte, Australia

Terra Australis, 2003

Terra Australis is the result of an entirely digital process and is offset printed on Symbol Freelife Satin 150 g/m2 and 300 g/m2 (cover) paper. The book is sewed and glued as well as being physically punched by holes. Terra Australis testifies to my life move from Italy to Australia. I was influenced by the great contrasts of an ochre-colored landscape surrounded by oceans with a big desert heart, and drawn by the vastness and the remoteness of this eerie country. As an artist, I was strongly attracted by the light and the texture of the fascinating different materials. 24 x 17 x 1.5 centimeters. Created 2003.

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Tommaso Durante was born in Italy in 1956. He is a visual artist and has been producing paintings, sculptures and artist books since the 1970s. Since 1976 he has focused on the relationship between art and philosophy, as well as developing the idea of bookwork as a contemporary philosophical tool for a very private approach to the world. In particular he worked around the definition of art as characterized by complex linguistic themes and resolutions, which go beyond the polarities of telling and reflecting, narration and concept. In the spring of 1978 he was invited to show at The First International Exhibition of Books by Artists at the Galerie NRA–Shakespeare International in Paris. As a result, in 1981 the artist participated in the event ‘Manifeste du livre d’artiste/livre-objet’ at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris and since then the artist book became a regular appointment in Durante’s artistic activity. Before moving from Italy to Australia, from 1997 to 2001 he also taught history and theory of art at the High School for Classical Studies in Amalfi, Italy. His bookworks are exhibited in solo shows and group exhibitions worldwide and are part of the most prestigious public and private special collections.