John Baldessari once said, “I used to be very uncomfortable calling myself an artist, because I thought it was qualitative, not just a generic title.”
I fully agree with his words.
Even today, the terms “art” and “artist” often feel overused and, at times, stripped of their depth and meaning.
While others are free to define my work as art or to consider me an artist, I choose not to claim the title myself.
My creative process is rooted in logic and rationality. Every project I undertake is the result of deliberate thought rather than abstract, emotional impulse. To avoid the ambiguity and subjectivity often associated with the title “artist,” I prefer to describe myself as a “visual designer.” This term feels truer to the essence of my work and the intentions behind it.
*”John Baldessari: An interview”, in Marcia Tucker, John Baldessari (The New Museum, NYC 1981)
Data
SerraGlia [ˈsɛʀɑ jɑː].
Architect, visual artist* designer.
Born 1979, Pesaro (Italy).
Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland (2009 to the present).
Currently represented by Galleria Heino, Helsinki.
Bio
SerraGlia is the alias of Italian visual artist and former architect Lorenzo Servi (b. 1979).
Through painting graffiti, SerraGlia first discovered cities and their untapped visual environment. Having finished a master’s in architecture (2008, University of Florence), he focused his interest on the intersection of photography, visual arts, and communication.
While others may describe his work as art or consider him an artist, SerraGlia prefers to approach his practice as a visual designer. Rooted in logic and intentionality, his work transforms the banal into the extraordinary and encourages viewers to search for deeper meaning in everyday life and built environments.
SerraGlia researches and analyzes issues in everyday life, documenting self-initiated projects through photography, video, and publications. Inspired by the ‘readymade’ and situationist movements, his projects often explore the boundaries between reality and fiction.
Using art as a medium to convey ideas and question the meaning of art itself, SerraGlia aims to shake the viewer’s gaze from its everyday fog, inspiring them to see alternative perspectives. His dedication to accessibility in contemporary art led him to found the Imagined Museum of Contemporary Art (2010), publish the book Art Is Everywhere (BIS Publishers, 2017), and hold workshops in schools and museums.
Since 2017, SerraGlia has focused on books as the principal format of his work. Through Other Editions, he explores and experiments with the book format as an artistic medium.
His works have been a part of several solo and group exhibitions in Finland and abroad, including The Finnish Museum of Photography and Galleria Heino.
1-Min Intro
Areas of Interests
Built-environments
Urban Readymades
Urban quotidian
The overlooked
Domestic places
Relationship-between-images-words-language
Relationship-between-art-and-viewer
Connecting-visual-arts-with-non-arts-experts
Series-of-images
Printed-matter
Humor and art
Member of
MUU artists’ association, Finland
The Union of Artist Photographers, Finland
Grafia – Association of Visual Communication Designers in Finland
Grants
Kone Foundation, artistic/publishing research (2023–2024)
Grafia, grant for book productions (2022)
VISEK, Centre for the Promotion of Visual Art (2017)
TAIKE, The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (2017)
Works in collections
State Art Deposit Collection (Finland)
HUS Art Collection (Finland)
Heino Art Foundation (Finland)
Private collections in Italy, Belgium and Finland.
Articles/Interviews
Mag Culture
ViD #3
Frizzifrizzi (In Italian)
Introduction @ West Carrollton High School, Ohio
Minimalissimo
PIG Magazine N. 34 (interview in Italian)
World Architects
Designboom
A complete portfolio/CV is available on request.