For HOT MESS, Flavio de Marco continues his sustained reflection on the contemporary world as a place where our vision has become filtered through omnipresent screens and standardised images.
Imagining the computer screen as a frame through which today’s world is formatted, de Marco investigates virtual space as a new model for painting. Therein the flat and immaterial horizon of the screen replaces the three-dimensional reality which has historically challenged the language of painting. Forced perspective is replaced with enforced flatness, where the physical depth initiated by the Renaissance masters vanishes. It is replaced by transitory two-dimensional images, where windows open onto windows, compressing the space into a close-ranged viewing screen–a site where the precariousness of the world is reduced to digital existence.
Flavio de Marco (b. 1975, Lecce) is an Italian painter based in Berlin. A former student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, de Marco’s first exhibition took place in 1997. He has since presented several solo shows both in Italy and abroad, including Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam; Estorick Collection of Modern Art and Italian Cultural Institute, London; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia; Museum Frieder Burdan / Salon Berlin, Berlin; Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara. Recent shows include Schermorama (with P. Hurteau), Studio G7 Gallery (2018), ABC des Reisens, Kunstbibliothek Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (2018), Sui generi, Galleria Sabauda, Turin – Galleria Estense, Modena – Palazzo Corsini, Rome (2017), My way, A modo mio, MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna, Bologna (2017), Horizontal, Casa Italia, Rio de Janeiro (2016). His works belong to important private and public collections and he was awarded for Premio Lissone 2016, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Lissone; 16º Premio Cairo, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan (2015); VI.Premio Fondazione VAF, Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Stadtgalerie Kiel; Palazzo della Penna, Perugia (2014).
Oil and acrylic on canvas
150 x 200 cm