Self-Transformism
“Every true transformation begins within.”
Paintings by Sossio, quotes by Elio D’Anna
Aria Art Gallery, Florence
24 May – 10 July 2022
Curated by Antonio Budetta
In 2022 Aria Art Gallery presented “Self-Transformism”, Sossio’s solo exhibition in Florence: a title that heralded the manifesto of a new cultural movement, of which the artist is one of the main exponents. The works on show, inspired by the innovative and revolutionary thought of Elio D’Anna, writer, philosopher, entrepreneur, poet and musician, were presented at the gallery in Borgo SS. Apostoli 40/r.
“Self Transformism” is an “Individual Revolution”, a movement that places the individual as the only creator of their own reality, which is reflected in the world of events according to their state of being. In this way, Sossio’s paintings represent a dynamic transformation of the inner world, a journey into a dream in which the artist, in the absence of fear, hunts for his own shadows. Through the use of a low, medium and high figurative and figural density, as well as a malleable use of typological and chromatic changes, they are able to capture the reflection of the inner order, to transform the states of being into matter, conceiving with every gesture in a paradoxical challenge of revealing a forgotten flawlessness.
Each individual has an impossible task to achieve, an event to be transformed and here the artist must renounce his copyright by placing himself as an instrument of “Will”. The observer can admire and discover himself canceling any distance, any conflict, any division.
Brushes, plastics and fabrics are used as a support for dabbing shapes and colors. The canvases are worked by creating and weaving volumes that allow colors and lines to find their own harmony through a complex formal structure, in a dynamic form.
Sossio uses the canvas as a wall of memories from which he erases any figurative description in order to recite with indelible colors, a message free from any preconception.
The exhibition was held under the patronage of the Comune di Firenze, in collaboration with the European School of Economics and Il Bottaccio.
Adapted in 2026 from Aria Art Gallery’s text for the exhibition (2022).
The works in the exhibition
Be constantly aware of the war within
Be constantly aware of the war within, this is the very engine of your development and success.
The refusal to recognise your inner conflict leads to misery and failure.
Oil on canvas · 230 × 100 cm · 2007
A world of shadows
The more tangible or visible is the antagonist, the more imaginary it is.
Any fight or war or enemy can only exist in your imagination.
It’s your inner conflict, which is itself unreal, that projects a world of nonsense, a world of shadows that you believe to be real.
Oil on canvas · 75 × 100 cm · 2019
Breathing
The world is built by your very breath. As you breathe so breathes the world.
Breathing belongs to you... comes from you and not from ‘out there’. Your understanding of breathing is upside-down. You keep telling yourself a backwards tale.
Breathing is an inner power and doesn’t depend on anything outside yourself, not even on the fancy oxygen.
Difficult to understand, but it is your breathing that makes the world alive. It’s your breath that gives Life to the entire Universe.
Oil on canvas · 100 × 150 cm · 2010
Texts by Elio D’Anna, excerpts from “The School for Gods” and “The Technology of the Dreamer”. © All rights reserved.
The collection
Continue discovering Self Transformism
32 more works, each paired with words by Elio D’Anna.
Discover the full collection