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Carlo Fantin: PACKAGING

May 2019

Child Labor
Child Labor - 2019 - previously used amazon box, hand drilled using a hand rotary tool - 36" x 12.5" -photo by artist

Today, most goods are a click away. We get online and are able to purchase almost anything, at the cheapest price, and have it delivered in no time. Thanks to Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and others, we can have all kinds of goods, even drugs and guns, delivered to our doorstep. These companies have grown so much, and are so big, that they can operate without consideration for their detractors. The convenience they give us allows us to forget our values. We don’t want to investigate who really makes the products we buy, what these delivery companies stand for, and what political views they may hold. If we can get what we want, in the time we want, at a reasonable price, we are okay with closing one eye, or even both.

Carlo’s new body of work is made using reclaimed packaging from various delivery companies. With the use of a rotary tool, Carlo has created several images on each of this boxes. Each piece is a visual representation of a controversy associated with these companies.  The scope of this new work is to ask the viewer to look behind the scenes of our consumeristic convenience.

Carlo Fantin was born and raised in Italy, and moved to the Bay Area in 2007. He has been drawn to various forms of expression, from sculpture, drawing, and painting to furniture and industrial design. Fantin has shown internationally as well as locally. In the Bay Area, his work has been seen most recently in San Francisco at 111 Minna Gallery, The Midway, and ArtAttack SF, as well as ProArts and Slate Contemporary in the East Bay. In 2016 he was one of the finalists of the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Competition and invited to show his work at Scope Miami Beach. His work has been written about in media including The Huffington Post and Hi-Fructose Magazine.

Mercury 20 Gallery

475 25th Street, Oakland CA 94612

Gallery hours: Friday + Saturday: 12-5pm and by appt