ESCAPES  –  preface by Sandra benvenuti

Escapes represents the passage that Donaggio undertakes from the precise and aseptic image of the advertising world, to fine art.
The author produces a series of images where everything, from scenography to the subject is invented, planned and executed in every single detail. The artist, starting from a A4 sheet of paper, engraves stories of life where everything is made of paper. The choice of utilising this material represents the author’s intention of conveying a sense of vulnerability, almost of precarity of an hypothetical daily existence. With this mood Donaggio cuts out characters, creates articulated environments and composes Escapes. This new project is for the author an escape from the professional work he has experienced so far – that is why he chose that title –
The technical development is long and complex: the artist begins with standard white sheets of paper that are subsequently incised by hand and then back-lit.
Then he photographs the paper cuts created with sinuous forms which are also amusing or sarcastic, like the couple of lovers where the woman kisses passionately his beloved man who has a cynical look; or like the car driver who seems to have a morbid relationship with his vehicle. With the advent of digital photography, the author exploits this new media to color the paper outlines that he had already photographed a few years before, thus giving them the magic that the whole work expresses. The perfect use of the color becomes an important factor as it underlines the emotional feature of each work.