Blue and Joy is the creation of a duo of Italian born Berlin based artists. Fabio La Fauci and Daniele Sigalot joined forces at the end of 2005 and since then have been making something of a name for their immense media project. The characters of Blue and Joy appear throughout their work - you can probably guess which is which. They have been kind enough to let us share some of their work with Kuriositas readers.
La Fauci and Sigalot often take small commonplace objects and make something quite extraordinary from them. They combine media, from video to mosaic, drawing to painting to create something of an aesthetic mirror of the times. Certainly their mosaics, which I particularly admire, do have something of the zeitgeist about them.
Dreams Keep Me Awake, above, is made up of 4,500 pills. With this knowledge this piece takes on a new dimension. La Fauci and Sigalot have been described as
cutesy anti-dreamers and there is much to be said for that description. Yet there is a harder edge to their work than meets the eye.
Joy takes center stage in
Pazienza. I think the above looks more like
Impazienza (maybe that is and isn't the point). You see, Joy is the saddest creature in the universe. It is Blue who is the happy one. Voltaire may have called tears the silent language of grief but perhaps in this world they are more the summer showers to the soul. Can you guess what
Pazienza is made out of?
There you have it! Like any great art their work is open to infinite interpretation. I see irony in their pieces but also a childlike sense of fun. Often their work is captioned but I do feel too that there are deeper, hidden messages within. It really is up to you. What I can't escape from, however, is the contagious enthusiasm of the pieces not to mention their forthright joie de vivre.
No material seems to escape from Blue and Joy. Here, 40,000 thumbtacks get their inimitable treatment.
Another piece features one cent coins. Thousands upon thousands of them.
Name the medium and it seems the prolific duo have had a go! The above certainly produces a wry smile. Ironic humor is ubiquitous in their work but be careful. The next turn may leave you heartbroken.
Their fiberglass and polyurethane
Siesta en el sofa (above) is wonderfully contradictory – emotionally speaking. I can’t look at it without smiling as my eye goes immediately to the happy little guy bouncing up and down. Then I see the (literal) heartbreak of his companion and my mood changes somewhat. Yet remember that appearances should always be deceptive!
Art is stimulation, sometimes like a feather at other times like a veritable cattle prod. The work of Blue and Joy is something of a surprise: I feel the shock at revelation at times, of recognition, yet at others their work is elusive, a visit to unfamiliar shores. The note below, for example, is made from aluminum.
Blue and Joy show their work at their Berlin headquarter, the Pizzeria. This is where these pictures were taken and, if you would like to see more (and there is so much more) then please visit
their wonderfully made website. It has only been online for a month but is already attracting a host of admirers.
