Light is an omnipresent magician, illuminating our visual perceptions and revealing a wonderful array of physical forms, textures, and colours. Reflection is light’s dynamic counterpart, changing direction, bouncing, and refracting off surfaces, creating a myriad of abstract configurations. Light, reflection, and movement are exciting media in the hands of Bali-based Italian artist Alessio Ceruti, who creates dazzling, refreshing contemporary art pieces.
FRAGMENTS FROM BELOW, a solo exhibition of paintings, sculptures, video and 3D installations by Ceruti, open 17 April – 29 May 2026 at Lawangwangi, is presented by ArtSociates, Bandung, West Java. “Fragments from Below presents his recent video, installation and two-dimensional works that interrogate perception, ecology, and the shifting relation between humans and the natural world, inviting us to move through what is seen, and what remains withheld.” Writes exhibition curator Dr. Agung Hujatnikajennong.
Inspired by his love and respect for the environment, and by his concern for its rapid transformation and destruction, Ceruti creates art that awakens wonder, helping us appreciate nature through a new lens. His objective is to stimulate us to become more aware and protective of our natural world.
Ceruti’s experimental mixed-media artworks blending photography and painting, offer highly unusual optical experiences, distinguishing him within the Indonesian contemporary art world. His ideas and themes have evolved over many years; his artistic journey pays homage to the rich natural environment of East Bali, especially at his coastal home in Amed, where, in the presence of the Bali Sea and the sacred Mt. Agung, inspiration and creativity abound.
“My work is deeply inspired by the ocean, climate change, and the ever-evolving relationship between humanity and nature. I dive—literally—into my creative process, using layers of plexiglass, ink, and paint to capture the beauty, distortion, and movement of life underwater. Each piece is a reflection—of light, of emotion, of what lies beneath the surface,” Ceruti told NOW! Jakarta Magazine.
Ceruti constructs layered compositions through transparent synthetic surfaces, manipulating the material into organic topographies through pressure, transformation, and the use of coral forms that imprint and shape the plastic itself. Pigments, inks, and reflected light interact across stratified planes, generating shifting depths and immersive dialogues between image, form, and perception.
Born in Varese, Italy, in 1980, Alessio Ceruti’s artistic foundation began in his father’s workshop in 1994, where he finished works for famous artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, Remo Salvadori and Not Vital. This environment was the catalyst for developing an artistic language which concentrated on the study and use of metals, recycled materials, and painting.
In 2010, Ceruti began living between Bali and Italy. His practice focused on construction materials and natural materials inspired by nature’s alchemical processes. His ideas evolved during his interactions with Balinese and international artists. Spending time in various SE Asian countries was inspirational; Ceruti’s time in China had a massive influence upon him.
Climate Change became a topic of investigation along with genetics and quantum physics. Ceruti began experimenting with plexiglass and stainless steel, creating site-specific installations that integrate light, sound, and projections. In 2020, in Bali he began studying and working on a Coral Gardening Program and researching on recycling materials.
“I never paid much attention to the properties of light until about five years ago, when an art curator emphasized them. Since then, my work has focused on the reflective surfaces of sculptures and objects, particularly starting with highly polished metals,” Ceruti said.
“I was looking for an object that was beautiful, and that was in a constant state of change to become a focal point of my artwork. The jellyfish became the perfect subject.” The dreamy, abstract qualities of the jellyfish lend themselves perfectly to Ceruti’s themes of ocean pollution.
The media Ceruti utilises have different aesthetic qualities, yet there are infinite ways they can interact with one another. The artworks continually change in presence as the viewer’s perspective shifts, emphasising the sense of movement while capturing our imagination.
“Working from underwater photographic and video references, he reprocesses images through layered interventions that blur the line between documentation and imagination. A diver and avid ocean enthusiast, Ceruti draws on his long engagement with the depths to produce a body of work that drifts across the scientific and the poetic: familiar, yet quietly strange. His oceanic creatures hover at the threshold of knowledge, slipping toward abstraction, shaped as much by perception as by the mystery from which they arise.” Writes Dr Agung Hujatnikajennong.
ArtSociates presents:
FRAGMENTS FROM BELOW
A Solo Exhibition by Alessio Ceruti
17 April – 29 May, 2026
ArtSociates Bandung, Lawangwangi, Dago Giri 99
Open daily 7AM – 10 PM (Closed Mondays)
instagram.com/artsociates.id
instagram.com/alessioceruti
