The purpose of art is not to reproduce the visible but to make it visible

Space is reclaimed, defined, enclosed, focused, and framed by light—let's see why.

There are two fundamental elements, according to artist Mario Carlo Iusi: the social aspect and habit, which interact with each other.

The social element refers to the rediscovery of spaces available to everyone, spaces commonly used but from which habit has removed vision and sharing.

What is always visible becomes invisible.

Mario Carlo Iusi intends to counter this contemporary, superficial, frivolous, insignificant popular distraction with a moment of reflection—a space/time of fulfillment where content regains its fullness and where emptiness reflects its significance.

Here comes the illuminated frame, which defines, emphasizes, indicates, and focuses: Iusi’s Kantian categorical imperative becomes: YOU MUST because YOU MUST...SEE—the commandment directed at a distracted and accustomed gaze.

If you MUST see what escapes you, it means you can, but you can because you MUST.

The artist's pedagogical/philosophical/artistic journey is realized in this gesture: to enhance the cultural heritage of his city, Alatri, along the Megalithic Walls with LED light installations positioned as frames of varying sizes, totaling 360 meters of display, and then to move inside the Cisterns of Albano Laziale to repeat the same disruptive gesture.

After the architectural grandeur of these two complexes, Luminis will bring renewed artistic value to other places, moving to Barcelona, where the installation will illuminate the Gothic Quarter from December 3, 2024.

The observer will notice existing details already embedded in the memory of places that were previously indifferent to the gaze that did not become true observation.

Even the stylized and illuminated pumpkin seed, a distinctive symbol in many of his creations, represents the artistic archetype of the “Semeion” theory, where conceptuality lingers between fullness and emptiness, the ordinary and the extraordinary, the everyday and the unusual, while sight provokes observation, and observation determines a double gaze.

Mario Carlo Iusi was born on November 16, 1995, in Alatri. In May 2014, after creating his first works, he exhibited them at the Palazzo Conti Gentili in Alatri. Two years later, he presented the “Interconnections” series there, showcasing the first canvases featuring the illuminated frame, which remains a distinctive element of his art. Additionally, in this venue, he created the “Acrosomi” installation, from which he later derived the simple objects of the Semeion theory. He pursued his education by attending the Faculty of Philosophy at Sapienza University in Rome, graduating with a thesis in analytical philosophy and aesthetics on the concept of imagination understood as the theoretical foundation of the possibility of creating a work of art. In 2018, he began collaborating with La Nuvola Gallery on Via Margutta in Rome, where he held his first solo exhibition. At the same time, he started developing the "Semeion" theory, producing the “The Container” series. His research focuses on the possibility of finding formal answers to conceptual questions, using light and the theories he has developed over the years.