Page 45 - Art at Mayfair Tunneln

Nicola Samorì, Untitled, 2012. Oil on canvas, 187 x 150 cm.
With an inspiration in the tradition of the Baroque portrait painting Nicola Samorì investigates how painting as a genre can be challenged. What at first sight looks like a classically composed painting turns out to be dissolving into large thick splotches of oil paint which degenerate the motive and points to the painting’s own material; oil on canvas. Untitled is a Baroque portrait executed with
exemplary technique. This sort of portrait has historically been meant for people of high order. A man poses for the viewer. He is dressed in voluminous clothing and stands stiff and formal with the hand resting of a red chair. All elements in the artwork points to material abundance. The lighting in the painting reminds one of that which can be found in paintings by Baroque masters such as Caravaggio and Rembrandt. But from here the comparisons with the Baroque’s neat and dramatic expressions stop. Through expressive and thick blobs of paint Samorì has disturbed his perfect painting. The portrayed man’s face disappears into the background darkness and the paint seams to drip from his face and clothes as if his body has no clear form. The effect reminds of a gloomy decomposing taking place instantly in front of the viewer. The painting is caught in the act of unwinding its own motive.
Nicola Samorì (1977, IT) lives and works in Bagnacavallo in Italy. He studied at Accademia Belle Arti in Bologna and has achieved international attention and recognition. He has exhibited at Monitor Gallery, IT; TRAFO Centre for Contemporary Art, PL; Kunsthalle Tübingen, DE; Ana Cristea Gallery, US; Galerie Eigen+Art, DE, among others. In 2015, he represented Italy at the Venice Biennale.
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