Passages & Destinations

About

Mizuma & Kips Gallery is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Artist, Geppy Pisanelli, entitled Passages & Destinations. The artist will present a group of 6 large oil paintings made between 2018 – 2021 which are the nucleus of the exhibition. From a compositional point of view, the images are constructed using strong chromatic contrasts between whites, blues, purples, blacks, and reds and at the same time by using very delicate shades and gradations of colors, leading to very seductive chromatic suggestions to the work.

In Pisanelli's recent works the landscape is the protagonist. However, the landscape is never a representation but can be defined as a conceptual landscape. In fact, the beauty of what may seem at first glance a seascape or icescapes, is suddenly interrupted by objects-subjects such as rafts, poles and ropes. These subjects determine a shift in perception by building an entire pictorial world in which the metaphorical elements and the composition begin to reveal themselves.

The narrative starting point of Geppy Pisanelli’s art begin to shape from these very simple subjects-objects like poles, ropes, tents and especially sea rafts that, like archetypal images common to all latitudes, are at the center of these minimal narratives that fluctuate between the idea of solitude and collectivity, calm and unexpected, affliction and hope. These dualities are common feelings in our lives, becoming irretrievably urgent in the wake of the tragic events linked to coronavirus pandemic.

The sea-rafts are a metaphor for an individual who floats adrift. In most works we can see rafts that are connected with ropes or poles and placed in an extreme environment (ice or fire). This has led the viewer to question the initial meaning and to rise to the role of a different metaphor. What does it represent? Uncertainty? Or the only thing to hold on to in silent landscapes? The meaning of the works remains codified. The viewer always has the last word. The way he feels creates different levels of interpretation, but what these images seem to suggest is that no man is an island and only in the search for the other, will humanity be able to free itself from pain.

Pisanelli’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in the United States and Italy. Recent solo exhibitions in Italy include: Royal Palace of Caserta, Caserta, I (2010), Galleria studio legale, Naples, I (2014). (PAN) Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Naples, I (2016). Palazzo della Cultura, Marcianise, I (2017). Solo exhibitions in USA include: Chelsea West Gallery, New York, (2010), Kips Gallery, New York, (2011), (2013), Casa Italiana Zerrilli-Marimò at New York University (2015).

He is currently living and working between New York, USA and Naples, I.