OMAR GALLIANI. Chiaroscuro: A Symphony in Graphite

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The exhibition “Omar Galliani: A Symphony in Graphite” will present around 20 works made in the past few years, which highlight the artist’s ability to express the inner light of his subjects. A leading exponent of the “Magico primario” – an art movement theorised by Flavio Caroli in 1982, which endorsed a return to a more traditional and figurative style

Highlights from the exhibition include works from a series dedicated to the constellations – such as Cassiopea 1 and Nella Costellazione di Orione(both from 2015) – a sort of sidereal mythology where the mystical power of women invades the sky, a territory conventionally intended as the domain of the male figure. Di perle e di luce and In ombra e in luce (bothfrom 2015) are two portraits representing the ethereal faces of a woman with her closed eyes. Defined by an almost dreamlike atmosphere and delicate plays of light and shadow, these two artworks are testament to the artist's fascination with Chinese culture.

The exhibition also includes drawings from the series Ancora fiori perAlice (realised between 2016 and 2017). These works express a more lyrical and intimate language, as they feature objects and flowers that seem to float or drift away along a stream, creating a distance betweenthe surreal atmosphere of the painting and the reality of the elementsrepresented.

Considered a master of contemporary drawing in Italy, Galliani works with fine and accurate graphite lines that are reminiscent of the drawing techniques honed and developed by the master artists of the Renaissance.

Starting with a white surface – a sheet or paper, a canvas or often a panel made of poplar – Galliani painstakingly traces and superimposes lines with graphite and charcoal. Progressively, these lines acquire a new life, emerging from dark backgrounds in the shape of a human body, a stretch of water or an object of everyday life. In the works exhibited, most of which are large in scale and reminiscent, in some ways, of altarpieces, decorative and symbolic figures emerge like stars in the sky, creating a surreal cosmos of “spiritual signs” embedded on a graphite surface.