LUCIANO VENTRONE
Luciano Ventrones paintings invite a mood of pure contemplation from the viewer; they are works of masterful skill and supreme aesthetic beauty. Though he admits sharing a strong affinity for the work of Caravaggio, Ventrone does not consider himself a realist painter in the traditional sense. He paints real objects but, because of his utilisation of certain contemporary techniques as part of the artistic process, the objects depicted are transported into a metaphysical, hyper-real context. What we see in a Ventrone painting is not real because it is not what we would see were we to look with the naked eye - We see more. Ventrone shows us things more fully and more clearly than they appear to us in reality; everything is in focus, everything can be scrutinised. He allows us to notice every blemish and admire every curve of flesh in a piece of fruit or on a naked female form. Set against monochromatic backgrounds of white, grey or black, the subject is lit from multiple angles, allowing for a full and objective appraisal of what we behold. Thus, what Ventrone shows us is, in his own words, a Mondo Parallelo or Parallel World; a Universe that shares the same starting point but a different system of evolution to our own. Edward Lucie-Smith Art Historian, Critic and Author
Luciano Ventrone was born in Rome in 1942. He is regarded by the Italian art establishment, museums, curators and critics as one of the leading exponents of his genre. He lives and works in Rome and Collelongo (LAquila), Italy.
Selected Solo Exhibitions 2012 Sui Generis, Casino dei Principi - Musei di Villa Torlonia, Rome Eternal Realm of Vision, Han Art, Montreal 2011 La perfezione dellImmagine, Cartiere Vannucci-Magazzini dellArte, Milan Le stanze dellArte,MuseoCivico di San Francesco, Montefalco (Perugia) 2010 Il Velo di Maya,Albemarle Gallery, London Io Cerco, Fondazione Per I Ragazzidel Mondo Ibrahim Kodra , Melide (Switzerland) Beyond the Veil, Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York Luciano Ventrone, Marble Palace - Ludwig Museum in the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg Palazzo del Broletto, Como 2009 Simposio, Albemarle Gallery, London Studio Forni, Milan LInverosimile Verosimiglianza, Fondazione Bandera, Busto Arsizio (Milan) 2008 Luciano Ventrone, Albemarle Gallery, London Bernarducci & Meisel Gallery, New York Le Verit Dipinte, Palazzo Luigi Einaudi, Chivasso (Turin) Luciano Ventrone e lEterno Presente, Galleria Forni, Bologna 2006 Luciano Ventrone and The Eternal Present, Albemarle Gallery, London Luciano Ventrone,Correggio (Reggio Emilia) Studio Forni, Milan 2004 Xenia. Ossia il Gioco Degli Occhi, Studio Forni, Milan 2002 Studio Forni, Milan Portraits of Nicola Mancino and Marcello Pera, Presidents of the Senate of the Italian Republic, Rome Two commissioned paintings for the bouvette of the Senate of the Italian Republic, Rome 2001 Galleria Il Tempietto, Brindisi 2000 - 1963 Over 50 solo exhibitions worldwide
Selected Public, Corporate and Private Collections Modern Art Collection of the Italian Senate Barilla Collection Umberto Agnelli Collection Carlo De Benedetti Collection Silvio Scaglia Collection Ente Fiera Bologna Collection Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Romano Prodi (Former Italian Prime Minister) Massimo DAlema (Former Italian Foreign Minister) Ottaviano Del Turco Collection Fabbri Editore (Leading Italian book publisher) Federico Zeri Foundation Collection Luigi Cremonini Collection Carlo Edoardo Valli Collection Fontana Collection Andrea Mascagni Collection Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan Collection Barclays Bank, UK Corporate Collection National Gallery of Art, Washington DC USA State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
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