At first glance, most people would say no—unless they happen to be regulars in the art world.

Contemporary art, after all, teaches us wonder. Let me put it this way—and allow me to be a little provocative: it’s easy to be awestruck by a Caravaggio or a Raphael Madonna. That’s almost expected. But when an artist makes you feel something about a wall of bathroom tiles, that’s a whole different level of power.

Perhaps, in the end, this is the superpower that unites artists of all eras: the ability to capture your attention and leave you with something, positive or negative.

That said, even though I’m biased here, I have to say this: contemporary art has an incredible, unique power that other eras cannot claim. You can make it out of anything.
And sure, that sometimes creates chaos, but it’s also ridiculously cool.

So here we are today, in a world where alongside the artist who tapes a banana to a wall and the one who preserves sharks in formaldehyde, there are those who use bathroom tiles to talk about fragility, conflict, and rebirth.

Yes, bathroom tiles.

When I saw Graziano Locatelli’s work for the first time, I immediately knew it had something important to say. His pieces give voice to a struggle we’ve all faced at least once in our lives, and that, most of the time, follows us through every stage of it. Let’s not lie to ourselves.
 Each of his works carries a tension that unfolds and evolves on multiple levels His small wall fragments aren’t flat, but neither are they deep enough to be considered full-fledged sculpture. They’re not intact, but they’re not entirely shattered either.

The series where this tension is most evident is Returnature, where the coldness of concrete and the whiteness of tiles are fractured by the life and color of natural elements like branches and moss. These seem to struggle to escape the rigidity of the concrete and tiles, embodying a tension between nature and artifice, life and death. The pulsating green of living nature battles against the icy white of tiles, which are nothing more than a lifeless material.

Whether it’s a reflection on the environmental crisis or the existential struggle every human being faces matters little. Locatelli manages to turn "dead" materials into living narratives, making fracture his core language.

His art doesn’t repair; it embraces flaws, exposes them, celebrates them, offering a powerful commentary on the human condition and our society. His works don’t just tell a story—they engage the viewer, forcing them to confront what we often avoid: imperfections, fragility, the tension between opposites.

Locatelli is an artist who invites us to reflect, to see beyond surfaces, and to embrace fragments as opportunities. With pieces that infiltrate our physical and mental spaces, he creates a dialogue that transcends the visible, speaking directly to our sensitivity.
These are works that speak, yet do not impose themselves. They reveal their message only to those brave enough to listen.