| ARTIST HIGHLIGHT: Francesco Lo Castro 
Website http://francescolocastro.com/

'Transgenesis' was one of the first works which I saw from Francesco on the BeatifulDecay website and instantly fell in love with the geometric design work created with silkscreen printing from simply how all the different layers are formed on top of eachother, becoming more faint as you look further back into the work. The colours and the texture are quite lovable aswell as I notice each shape has a gain effect upon its surface. The colours aren't just vibrant but its been considered to include a mixture of dim and warm colours, there is also a very nice arrangement of marking on the most faintest layer around the central jumble of shapes which added a more natural sort of choatic distortion that the geometric shares.

Transgensis, 2013, Francesco Lo Castro

Acrylic, silkscreen, spray paint & layered epoxy resin on wood.

36" x 48" x 3"  (91.5 cm x 122 cm x 7.5 cm)

 | Photography of Decay: Volume 6

To be written.

 | Photography of Decay: Volume 5

To be written.

 | Photography of Decay: Volume 4

To be written.

 | Photography of Decay: Volume 3

Trying to get some inspiration from 'EVOL' I mentioned in a previous artist spotlight but I really think at first glance you could mistake the first texture for a wall possibly, and thats why I choose to include these in this volume. Theres alot of features happening including the light forming shadow and distinctive lines and also bits of moss and greenery, very light greens too. Theres a variety of sections which make up the body of this tree which again, makes me think twice when I study it and for an actual tree, the body is quite smooth in the majority of places.

Back to the more urban look, Dirt is also an interesting medium, the clean sticker above the dirt really makes it pop out and have the feeling of 'new purpose', stickers also leave really great/annoying to most marks on other materials which is another idea for my ever expanding range of processes. There is also a very very faded sticker towards to lower right which has this sense of use and age.

Whilst being in a car park staircase, one of the few places I've ever dared to tread, make for some grungy and atmospheric pictures but since the sun was out, it felt more like an isolated atmosphere than a spooky one. The mixture of cobwebs and lack of having a proper good cleaning mean't this time round I wasn't really looking for textures or interesting image, but more around location. Pretty sure the lift would be out of order but if I get another chance to visit, I may take a journey inside, it appears strangely newer than its surroundings, the sign above offers some cool removed areas where it simply appears to have fallen off. The next image is more atmospheric with the blue light, the railings are very worn and even the rubber is missing in places, the odd mixture of yellow underneath tell the tale of possibly a more friendlier past since yellow is a nice bright colour, the blue kind of makes it more gloomy.

Same location, different area, this time its floors. Tried to make a few nice compositions with the number out to the side, why I did this was due to the texture of the wall especially in the first where there are alot of slight drippings. The second beheld that sticker quality where there was removal and additions and even peeling which again, is another nice, new technique.

Looking more closely at that blue light again, creating reflections upon the roof above. At the time, I considered the decay of light, how areas become darker, how the atmosphere changes and our feelings change which then led me to consider the decay within our own minds and thoughts, emotions and perspectives. Also the pattern of the light inside had quite a nice patter, unrelated to decay but I liked it anyway.

Finally, Closer look at that blue and yellow/removed rubber qualities, there is also a strong emboss feature where the rust appears to stand above the colours like some sort of infection. Another idea sprung to how decay takes over an objects, becomes more of a disease. The other image was also really unique in the fact it appears to be created by a pool of damp in the roof which has caused the ceiling to become moist and weaker, more vulnerable to being distorted and stretched. Possibly later on this will eventually become a hole as more liquid seeps out.

 | Photography of Decay: Volume 2

First two images i found pretty interesting. First is from the side of a charity deposit station, I mainly took this shot for the brown smears but theres just so much going on within the cracks and theres alot of variation in the saturation of the browns and blues. It almost feels like theres a sort of hidden skin behind its light blue exterior and in certain places especially the centre, this 'skin' looks to be turning abit green, possibly moss though, but its like nature, like in most of my decay images, is trying to reclaim. The same goes for the next image, quite a lime green bench. The little circular spots bleeding out from the wood and white splotches makes it an interesting colour study, I found the cracks generic however so they didn't particularly interest me.

Another pair you'll love to love. They look quite similar but the reason why I want to compare these two is by the way liquid has collected. Firstly, you have the image to the left where its more collected, more jagged and alot more abstract than oppose to the right where you have alot more detail in the way liquid appears, more singular. As well as these stronger features, the actual surface is also quite nice, murky with the grain alternating, becoming busier and than blurred which made for a nice ground for the drippings to appear.

These two were quite unusual, but its an example of how tape in public spaces gets worn over time, possibly by boredom of waiting by a bus stop that they start defacing stuff like a pupil at a school desk. First image of the pair features some tape, purple and blue pen with claw markings almost, this was a very nice find due to one, being a mad lover for this colour scheme and two, a new way of decay being human interaction or even an animal. The edges are also fuzzy, unclear, as if the material was more like fabric. Next image was the remains of some decorative tape on a bus stop window, do like how it aligns with the road marking but the main eye candy for me is this symphony of spots running along the window, sunlight illuminating them, another exmaple of human interaction potentially causing decay. If you look at the arrangement as a whole, there is a pattern that repeats which was also really strange, how was that achieved, how could I replicate it.

Light plays a big role in this small collection too, seeing as its glass, the shadows can form colour or tint. First image I mainly wanted to see how light affects the appearance of this broken beer bottle, I noticed how shadow contained a mixture of green tint but also a black tint too which is seen to be quite distinctive. This quality is alot more apparent in the other image towards the right of border, the light also revealed alot of tiny cracks and cuts within the glass itself, the white sticker background provided an excellent base for comparison and I really did like how this was achieved. Lastly, the ground was also quite nice for a typical street road but for this particular image, kind of draws your eyes away abit from what I feel is 'the main prize'.

Miscellaneous Images of the day, we have an old building, only thing I wanted to point out was the edging of the roof and the supports, a slight grey white mixture of worn paint/surface, decay doesnt have to be clearly visible and its always nice to look like the little things. The next image was another great find. Sign hidden beneath as well as the actual support for the sign work together nicely, the spots under the 'M' show a nice small arrangement which I can replicate as a small side project and then there is this intense burn to the left which sparked an idea for actually burning things like materials, I was also going to suggest living things since I haven't been focusing on natural formations much but I don't think thats entirely moral, I'll keep thinking.