Beschreibung:

Property of a Prestigious European Collector Marcello Lo Giudice Follow Red Vulcano oil and pigment on canvas 152.3 x 201 cm (59 7/8 x 79 1/8 in.) Executed in 2016.
Provenance Private Collection, St. Petersburg Acquired from the above by the present owner Exhibited Saint Petersburg, Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum, Marcello Lo Giudice , 2 March - 15 May 2017, p. 65 (illustrated) Rome, MAXXI National Museum of the XXI Century Arts, Marcello Lo Giudice. Eden, pianeti lontani , 11 May - 12 June 2017 Catalogue Essay With thick layers of red paint gesturing both vertically and horizontally across the canvas, Marcello Lo Giudice’s 2016 Red Vulcano is a remarkable example of the artist’s characteristic experimental approach, vested with a meticulous processing of texture, and defined by a long-standing fascination with geology. Having studied the subject early on at the University of Bologna, Lo Giudice retained conceptual elements of cosmic science in his art, often revealing earthly forms within dense brushstrokes, or bits of matter resembling terrestrial fragments. At the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, the Italian artist focused his academic examinations on Arte Infomale, as well as its broader sister movement Art Informel, spanning across Europe, following the work of Italian and French painters such as Emilio Vedova Giuseppe Santomaso Lucio Fontana Yves Klein and Jean Dubuffet These artists, investigating the cross between pictorial abstraction and painterly dynamism, placed a special emphasis on the formal aspect of their art, vesting particular importance on the treatment of pigment and the varying intensity of brushstrokes. It becomes clear upon observing Lo Guidice’s organic and energetic paintings that such art historical heritage was deeply influential and formative. Yet while Lo Giudice’s canvases are indeed reminiscent of the brash style of painting that conquered most of post-war Europe, they nonetheless stand out in their scientific dimension. The contemporary artist’s geological endeavours indeed permeate his paintings, personalising their vigour and lending them idiosyncratic character. It is in this perspective that French art critic Pierre Restany declared that Lo Giudice’s canvases allow ‘light's energy to blend with metamorphism of the material, and create remote geological views.’ After a brief experimentation with Conceptual Art in the 1970s, Lo Giudice indeed turned towards this entirely new and personal style, of which the vibrant energy took life through rich textures, colourful layers and thick surfaces. At the core of this artistic approach lay a clear admiration of nature and cosmic elements; this attachment to earthly surroundings and natural environments, in turn, evokes spiritual grounds from which the use of bright colours only denotes an aligned luminescence. Lo Giudice, in this perspective, invokes a connection between humanity and matter by revealing several interventions within his compositions, adding abrasions, traces of lights, scratches and removals. The content on canvas thus hovers over references of primary materiality – Red Vulcano looks like red magmatic lava – and broader spiritual meaning. Read More