Gianpaolo Pavesi, Architect Insects In The Studio, Early-morning Shift

Gianpaolo Pavesi, Architect Insects in the Studio, Early-Morning Shift

Medium: Mixed media on cardboard (graphite, ink, acrylic)

Dimensions: 51 × 36.2 cm

Date: circa 1970s–1980s

Condition: Good. The reverse bears sketches, annotations, and signature, forming part of the work itself

A conceptual and ironic composition set in a technical workspace populated by oversized insects, each seated at a drafting table. Handwritten time markings (“6:30”, “6:45”, “8:30!”) evoke a mechanical, alienating routine, where design becomes repetitive and depersonalized.

The work balances grotesque imagery and graphic precision, rendered in a muted palette of blacks, greys, and yellow-tinged tones. The insects, repeated in a nearly rhythmic sequence, dominate a cold, dehumanized studio space.

Reverse side

The back of the cardboard reveals further layers of the creative process: a loosely painted head in warm tones, architectural studies, numbers, and a second signature. These elements suggest a dynamic working surface and are entirely consistent with a conceptual and procedural approach typical of the 1970s.

Gianpaolo Pavesi was active in Lombardy between the 1970s and 2000s. He worked across visual arts, publishing, and theatre. Documented as an illustrator (notably for a book published in Milan in 1971), he also taught figure drawing at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, particularly in the Scuola degli Artefici. Pavesi participated in scenographic and educational projects and exhibited his work, including a solo show at Galleria 72 in Bergamo in 1976.

His artistic language merges architectural rigor with surreal imagination, often bordering on the absurd and the satirical.