Gulio Rigoni

Tower XI (from endless series of towers)

2020

"My art is a silent art which belongs to a rarefied world, away from the bustle and noise of contemporary life. When I approach my works, I start by studying reality. Yet, I soon move away from it: People and objects painted are suspended in a parallel dimension, made of precious details, inscrutable expressions and arrested motion. My style doesn't dwell on an aesthetic nostalgia of the past; instead, it lays a distortion on it to bring it back to today's age. I intentionally create contrasts – between the historical and the surreal, or between extremely refined and simpler elements of my works - that change the common perspective and take the viewer into a magical world of suspension. I'm very specific about the materials I use, and each material has a meaning to me. I like painting with oil because it allows me to be very precise with the fine details. In particular, through the "Velature" - different colour layers lay one over the other - I can achieve a wide variety of colour. I'm also interested in exploring the gilding Pre-Renaissance technique. I like the idea that gold cannot be considered just as a metal: if illuminated, it becomes light itself. In that sense, gilding becomes something different. A symbolic material but also a powerful way to evoke a surreal and precious world."