The Enzo Fiore exhibition “Divine e altri miti” hosted in Palazzo Callas in Sirmione from June 30th to September 1, 2013, presents a panoramic view of the artist’s work beginning with the feminine universe of our era and transiting through his portraits of famous celebrities and icons from the world of art, history, music and film.

The exhibition, patronized by the Municipality of Sirmione (Brescia) with the collaboration of the Contini Art Gallery (Venice / Cortina d’ Ampezzo), and curated by Anna Vergine and Gabriele Fallini, will be inaugurated on Sunday, June 30th at Palazzo Callas at twelve noon; critical essays in the catalogue have been authored by the curators and by art critic Alberto Mattia Martini.

The works by Enzo Fiore narrate the union of mankind – nature becomes determinant and inescapable. Since his debut in 1997, nature has been the protagonist of his work, the element which the artist utilizes to create his paintings. The organic matter – musk, branches, leaves, roots, soil, stones – become the instruments with which Fiore operates; since 2008 he has also made use of insects in some of his works. The latest artistic production differs from earlier works in the strong and impetuous background colors that visibly lighten the atmosphere of the canvases and exorcise the theme of death and decomposition. The relationship between Eros and Thanatos finds a constant dialogue in which beginning and end, genesis and apocalypse, creation and annihilation all interact in a continuous and intense exchange. The inanimate matter takes on new forms and becomes an expression of flesh, body and life.

Fiore demonstrates an extraordinary power of suggestion and through the imperceptible use of organic matter – a distinguishing feature of his artistic studies – and seems to lead us firmly, yet delicately into the glorious legend of the figure depicted and into which the viewer is invited to participate and ponder, in a direct involvement with the material.

In the exhibition, the artist confronts the power of imagination in figures pertaining to contemporaneity; the “legends” that we honor today for the values and extraordinariness that they were capable of transmitting. The universal icon of Enzo Fiore is composed of creatures suspended between reality and creativity, through the concreteness of a technique that crystallizes fragments of nature and reinstates their lightness. The intention of the artist is to take us beyond, towards a detailed analysis of the body, the anatomic structure and somatic traits of his subjects in such a way that the viewer finds himself in front of a world swarming with insects in continuous motion, as if immersed in a vibrant drama of existence. If at first glance, the image appears to be a painted, almost graphic portrait, at a closer look one is surrounded by and involved with a multitude of forms, of animal and plant entities that bring us back to macro nature in its imposing forms or to micro seen as a manifestation of that which is unique and unusual. An exemplary form of beauty representative of continuous changes in the vitality of communication between matter and energy is the bond instated between Man, Nature and Culture.

“Enzo Fiore is an artist that has placed his existence under the sign of a whirling and constant dexterity, at the service of artwork that maintains its specific weight intact. His painting is supported by a critical weight made of depth and dense brushstrokes, of somber colors and solid matter. He attempts to build an imaginative tactile world where the figures acquire a three-dimensionality made entirely of paint, flesh and skin and incorporated within the beehive of the painting”. (Achille Bonito Oliva, art critic)

Enzo Fiore was born in Milan on July 13, 1968. After attending the artistic high school there, in 1991 he achieved his diploma in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Brera, under the guidance of maestro Luciano Fabro. During the following years he dedicated his time to the restoration of antique paintings while also creating scenographic sets. In 1996 he began to collaborate with the Fabbrica Eos Gallery in Milan. In 2006 he became acquainted with gallery dealer Stefano Contini and would become associated with the Contini Art galleries in Venice and in Cortina d’ Ampezzo (Belluno). Fiore currently lives and works in Milan.

The curators of the exhibition are Anna Vergine and Gabriele Fallini, in collaboration with the Contini Art Gallery – Venice and Cortina.

Palazzo Callas
Piazza Carducci
Sirmione (BS) 25019 Italy
Ph. +39 030 9909184
www.sirmionebs.it

Opening hours
Daily from 3pm to 9pm