The artistic research of Mattia Ozzy B. (Rozzano, 1998) starts from graffiti and evolves towards abstract painting and the use of ready-made objects, with which he develops a unique and personal language. Through this practice, he explores the aesthetics of Post-Graffiti and Post-Vandalism, addressing urgent issues such as overproduction and the dynamics of contemporary society in the urban context.
Portrait of Mattia Ozzy B. during MAI-LAND, 2024. Ph Nicola Morittu, courtesy the Artist
Upon entering Mattia Ozzy B.’s studio, one immediately has the feeling of being in not just a workspace, but an authentic archive of the city. Here, rims, grills and sheets of metal, locks, pipes and other urban elements abandon their original meaning to become part of a larger texture. At the heart of this research lies what Hal Foster calls an ‘archival impulse’: an almost instinctive desire to collect and preserve the signs of the present and the past, while breaking free from a linear historical logic or the rigid laws of cause and effect. Although the studio functions as a veritable Atlas, Ozzy considers the metropolis itself, with its underground substratum of discards and forgotten traces, his real workplace. However, the cityscape does not remain confined outside: it penetrates the atelier, becoming an integral part of the creative process. Its echoes can be heard everywhere, from the buzz of accumulated objects to the constant background of a construction site radio.
Mattia Ozzy B., Studio, Milano, 2024. Courtesy the Artist
The profound connection with the urban environment finds a particular resonance in the words of Italo Calvino in Le città invisibili (1972): the city, writes Calvino, «contains its past like the lines of a hand, written in the angles of streets, in the grilles of windows, in the handrails of staircases». And it is precisely in these discreet and often forgotten signs, between worn surfaces and worn corners, that the artist finds inspiration, transforming stories and hidden testimonies into visual expressions. The spontaneous assemblage of materials and new works that dialogue with past projects reflect his philosophy: nothing is ever really finished. Every creation lives in a state of incompleteness, always ready to mutate and integrate into new forms. This vision is intertwined with his aesthetic and conceptual choice to work with recycled resources, inspired by artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn and his works, in particular Les Monstres and Flamme Éternelle.
Mattia Ozzy B., Studio, Milano, 2024. Courtesy the Artist
«Nothing is really waste» he explains «every object is a symbol, it no longer belongs only to the place where it was found, but becomes a bearer of stories, an empirical object that has something to tell and takes on new meanings by having its own unique and specific experience». This profound and visceral relationship with the city was the focus of his first solo exhibition in Milan, MAI-LAND, recently concluded at the LUNGOLINEA gallery and conceived as an opportunity to present his work in all its complexity and heterogeneity. The title, a play on words between ‘Mailand’ (the German name for Milan) and ‘My Land’ (‘my land’), recalls the territory from which the artist draws inspiration, evoking a place suspended between physical reality and mental dimension. This double meaning underlines the idea of a space that is not limited to concrete aspects, but that gathers collective experiences and narratives in a complex weave. Following Foucault’s thought, the artist interprets the city as a complex ‘device’, a system of relationships and dynamics. It is not just a collection of architecture or reclaimed materials, but a living network of interconnected meanings, where each element is steeped in time, memory and experience.
Mattia Ozzy B., Studio (Sketches for MAI-LAND), Milano, 2024. Courtesy the Artist
In Mattia Ozzy B.’s work, colour takes on a central role, going beyond the simple aesthetic dimension to become a true narrative language. «Colour is a language» says the artist «every shade tells a story, spreads through space and creates a constant visual dialogue». This vision finds its highest expression in site-specific installations such as FAR FALLE (2024), where colour tones become the focus of a spatial and total narrative. The philosophy of mutation is found in the series My Land (2023), where works enclosed in boxes containing air evolve over time through chemical processes, slowly changing their form. Similarly, in CIRCONVALLA (2024), abandoned car wheel covers form a modular structure that is potentially perpetually expanding.
Mattia Ozzy B., “MAI-LAND” exhibition view at LUNGOLINEA, Milano, 2024. Ph Nicola Morittu, courtesy the Artist
For Ozzy, the continuous metamorphosis of the city translates into an intimate, almost maternal bond with the urban environment, a relationship explored especially in Madre Metropoli (2024). This work is part of a series in which analogue photographs, taken between Philadelphia and Mexico City and applied on corrugated fibreglass sheets, filter glimpses of changing urban life. Among these, the image of a church woman selling wheel-shaped biscuits in traffic stands out. A scene that for the artist symbolically encapsulates the incubating force he attributes to the city: an entity that welcomes, shapes and challenges, confronting those who live it with hard truths. «The city is like a mother» reflects the artist «because for me, and I think for many people, it is in the street that you spend the most time. The city is a presence that knows how to be both protective and severe, capable of cradling you but also of confronting you with inevitable truths that are often difficult to accept».
Mattia Ozzy B., “FAR FALLE” (detail), 2024. Site-specific installation at LUNGOLINEA, Milano. Quartz paint and spray on PVC tarps, Variable dimensions. Ph Nicola Morittu, courtesy the Artist
For the young artist from Rozzano, every urban detail, even the most marginal, becomes a symbol to be deciphered and transformed, revealing a beauty hidden in imperfection and contradictions. It is in this tension between fragment and totality, between what is discarded and what is reborn with new meanings, that his artistic research is rooted. Ozzy greets me humming: «Closer to the pavements, where it is true what you see» a verse by Loredana Bertè that seems to become, for him, almost a mantra. An invitation to observe the space we inhabit with renewed eyes, discovering in its stratifications a choral tale that never stops evolving.
Francesca Tripoli
Info:
www.instagram.com/mattiaozzy.b
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