Oscar Giaconia's Parasite Soufflé at Monitor Rome

Oscar Giaconia's second solo show at Monitor's Rome venue, Parasite Soufflé, presents 11 new works blending the figure of the fisherman with that of the parasite, alluding to control and loss. The gallery space is clad in salpa, a regenerated leather typically used in footwear, creating a flesh-colored membrane. At the center, a plastic proliferation of gourds appears as a three-dimensional translation of a 2022 painting also titled Parasite Soufflé. Giaconia recurs to controllers—fishermen, captains, sentinels—contrasted with a pictorial solution using mixtures of organic and synthetic materials (adhesion promoter, aniline, casein gel, plastic emulsion) that corrode the canvas surfaces, whose harsh tones reference contrast markers in microbiology. Part of the exhibition is dark with spotlit works, a cinematic backstage approach Giaconia has used before. The Troll series features a triptych of accumulations and crumplings within frames made of prototyping material. The painting Sexual cumsiness (the raptile glove) results from a prosthetic makeup operation the artist underwent in 2016; self-feeding, or using one's own waste, is central to his practice, echoing Burroughs' idea that 'the parasite is the prototype of the hostile invader: a living image that makes itself using you.' Before the opening, a closed-door operation took place: two exterminators handled the assembly and disinfestation of the prop, and their tools remain stored as incongruous relics.