Kind of Black

From 02/10/2020 To 31/12/2020

LORENZO PUGLISI

KIND OF BLACK

CURATED BY DOMENICO DE CHIRICO

BIANCHIZARDIN CONTEMPORARY ART

«Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn

du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein.»

«Whoever fights with monsters should see to it that he does not become one himself. And when

you stare for a long time into an abyss, the abyss stares back into you».

(Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 146)

Lorenzo Puglisi’s pictorial research is characterised by a strong interest in the human nature and in the mystery of existence; and by the extensive, obsessive and conscious use of black.

Puglisi considers this anti-chromatic invasiveness as both an innate absence and presence, essential to the creation of a pitch-dark background emanating, as harmonious constellations, beams and flashes of light that masterfully define volumes, faces, body parts – fragmentary elements perceived as presences caught in a pictorial expression or movement.

This is a dazzling and obscure path aiming at essential representation, traced through grandiose references to the history of art. The exhibition features large canvases evoking artworks of undisputed Masters such as Caravaggio, Leonardo and Michelangelo – once again the triad space-light-figure is the key to a mystic and phenomenal proscenium. Paralleling German philosopher Friedrich Nietz-sche and his first mature work The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music, Lorenzo Puglisi's solo exhibition “Kind of Black” is conceived in all its visionary potential as a path between ascent and decline, which Nietzsche himself ascribes to the expression of common dynamics, a spirit both Dionysian and virtuous, two equal and opposite forces: on the one hand the Apollonian – representing Dream, plastic arts, the serene magnificence of Olympian deities – and on the other the Dionysian – representing Inebriation, music, Baccha-nalian orgiastic frenzy. This dichotomy enveloped in endless attraction is remarkably exemplified by Puglisi's works. Shapeless efful-gent elements stare into the abyss facing the mysteries of existence, creating meaning to express the inexpressibility they come from. This is how Lorenzo Puglisi keeps focusing his gaze on the turbulent darkness of being, so as to compose his new symphony – with the rhythm of silent bedlam – in four definite and independent scenes: La Pietà (The Piety), 2020; Il Grande Sacrificio (The Great Sacrifice), 2018; Matteo e l’Angelo (Matthew and the Angel), 2020; Ritratto 270919 (Portrait 270919), 2019.