Chris Ulivo: Ancient Rome Today!

About

Track 16 Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Ventura-based artist Chris Ulivo, Ancient Rome Today! The work is on view from April 29 to June 3, 2023 and marks the artist's first solo exhibition with the gallery. In an era heavily influenced by digital image-making tools, Chris Ulivo spent the past fifteen years working with the archaic medium of egg tempera and creating images solely from memory and imagination. Working completely “from his head” allows a genuine and direct relationship between his capacity for visualization and depiction. Built of thousands of tiny strokes, the slow pace of tempera encourages the gradual realization of each scene. From this simple combination comes vibrant and unruly scenes.  The works in the exhibition are part of an ongoing series, Forces of Destiny, which is a high-concept farce with the Ulivo himself figuring into most of the images. The artist travels back in time to ancient Rome in a foolish attempt to rewrite history, visit ancient relatives and make a name for himself. These are rooted fantasies. He strives for vitality and believability in each painting no matter how improbable or ridiculous the narrative. Inspired by historical fantasists like the writers Patrick Leigh Fermor, Robert Graves, and the work of Edward Gorey, the ultimate goal is to have paintings that appear as if an overzealous icon painter was tasked with creating backdrops for a lost opera buffa.