CO2 is pleased to present From the studio (Nightrider), an intimate and impetuous reflection by Gianni Politi. In this project realized for CO2, the artist shares his introspective and private experience with the onlooker: it is his willingness to open an obsessive and impossible dialogue with a faint memory of the fatherly face.

A selection of oil paintings on canvas tells the process of mental reconstruction started from the study of a portrait realized by Gaetano Gandolfi in 1770. Gianni Politi discovered in the pages of an art history book the face of a bearded old man which catapulted his process to start painting. For him the comparison with tradition is a prerequisite to reconstruct this figure belonging to his personal life, a sort of exercise in style, born during the nights spent working in his studio. The title of the show emerged from this occurrence; the artist personality identifies with that of a “nightrider” trying to find clues in a limbo between memory and dream.

The artist attempts to reconstruct the memories of his father figure through the features of the unknown subject: a fluctuating and uncertain line gives life to faces with similar features. The dreamlike scenario created by the dark, bright, monochromatic backgrounds is juxtaposed by the reoccurrence of a hand that appears as a clear and distinct detail in the paintings.

What remains to the viewer is a series of painting exercises wherein the artist approaches his memories in order to remember them but all that’s left is an incomplete composition. This places the onlooker in the same state of mind as the author.

Gianni Politi (1986, lives and works in Rome). His research is closely linked to his personal events. His projects are demonstrated in an introspective and visceral way. Solo shows: 2013 From the studio (Nightrider), CO2, Rome (IT); 2012 - Viva la muerte! Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome (IT); 2011 – Le cose non saranno mai più come prima, Palazzo Collicola Arti Visive, Spoleto PG (IT); A brief history of pain. CO2, Rome (IT); Group shows: Regeneration, MACRO, Rome (IT); Teoria del valore, CO2, Rome (IT); Su Nero Nero, Castello di Rivara, Turin (IT); PainThing, Palazzo Zenobio degli Armeni / 52°Biennale di Venezia, Venice (IT); In the long tunnel we are all alive, Reload – Ex officine Rosati, Rome (IT).

Co2 Gallery
Via Piave, 66
Rome 00187 Italy
Ph. +39.06.45471209
Fax +39.06.45473415
info@co2gallery.com
www.co2gallery.com

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