Stefano Contiero’s Foga (2019) stands as a foundational exploration of raw emotion articulated through digital expression. This collection of three works channels the untamable forces of human emotion through densely interwoven fields of algorithmic brushstrokes, each composition embodying what Contiero describes as “a feeling of something you can’t contain or dominate.” Overlapping filaments create compositions that vibrate with chromatic tension, their layered density evoking both gestural urgency and digital materiality.
The collection’s three iterations, Ardore, Impeto, and Pulsione, demonstrate how computational systems can capture psychological states through accumulated mark-making rather than singular gesture. Dense matrices of lines accumulate into textural fields oscillating between order and chaos, a quality that resonates with Franz Kline’s black brushwork and Willem de Kooning’s raw abstract gestures, yet establishes distinctly contemporary territory through digital mediation. Where the Abstract Expressionists sought psychological release through physical mark-making, Contiero’s algorithmic processes generate emotional authenticity through systematic layering, each iteration building expressive density through code rather than brush.
Foga establishes a pivotal foundation in the artist’s evolution, introducing themes of emotional expression through computational means that resurface with greater intensity in Tensione (2020), where suffering becomes another form of untamable force requiring artistic surrender. The collection gained recognition through Ardore’s presentation at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Shanghai in 2021, where its exploration of untamable emotion found resonance within contemporary discussions about generative art’s capacity to channel raw human experience.
In Foga, Contiero suggests that the most honest response to undomitable feeling is not mastery, but collaborative surrender to its expressive demands.