2013
Egg tempera on wood
90 x 180 cm
This works has a central figure which visually divides it in two - the left hand side depicts a somewhat idyllic scene, a lake enveloped by the woods with a red boat serenely gliding along still waters. There’s a cityscape in the background, hardly recognisable in a heavy mist, as if it doesn’t belong to the bucolic setting. The hooded figure leans towards it, in a gesture of bewilderment , grief or despair. The ultramarinefigure is based on a photograph of the artist’s friend, who worked at the war front of the Arab Spring in Libia. On the other side, commotion and chaos prevails, groups of schematic figures in plight, in a sort of post-apocalyptic atmosphere. The figures are redolent of the Etruscan painting, motifs on vases and urns. It’s a reflection on the human existence in the conditions of extreme physical endurance, so current in the world we live in today.