This exhibition follows on from our 2021 exhibition “arte figurativa 1”, in which we showed works by Robert Bosisio, Peter Demetz, Domenico Grenci and Bruno Walpoth.

All artists share a preoccupation with the human body, the highest quality of craftsmanship and an unmistakable individual signature. However, the three artists approach the human figure/portrait in very different ways.

For the Bolognese painter Domenico Grenci (*1981), the exploration of the portrait is the core of his artistic work. Using a mixture of oil, red chalk and charcoal, he creates extremely delicate pictures in which the people portrayed seem to appear only fleetingly. They appear very vulnerable and reserved, as if they are only cautiously venturing out into the world through the surface of the paper/canvas. Despite the fact that their facial features are usually only lightly hinted at, the people portrayed radiate great calm and self-confidence. The models for his portraits can be pictures from art history, photos from the Internet or his own photos. However, Grenci filters all of these images through his special gaze and transforms them into very intense, impressive portraits.

The Bremen sculptor Gregor Gaida (*1975) breaks down the human body or its portrait into organic elements and technical-looking structures that interpenetrate and create something new. Dr. Ari Hartog rightly points out in a catalog text that Gaida basically treats his sculptures like a painter treats a canvas painting or a photographic artist treats a photographic image, by radically cutting the motif and fragmenting and changing the human torso in such a way that it serves only as a source material in order to create a completely autonomous object that is subject to its own rules or only to the artist’s creative will.

In times when jawbones or other bone parts can already be replaced by 3D printing, Gaida’s figures sum up this fusion of technology and nature.

A similar basic idea can also be found in the extremely intense figures of South Tyrolean artist Peter Senoner (*1970), whose androgynous beings seem to come from another time or from distant galaxies. Although the human body remains recognizable, it is supplemented by seemingly technical elements. They are reminiscent of mythical creatures or figures from science fiction films, but they also have strong references to the long history of sculptural interpretation and idealization of the human body from Egyptian pharaohs or gods to the present day. Perhaps Senoner’s constant striving for optimization, heroization and idealization is only consistent with the present, in which body shaping and body modification enjoy great popularity. In addition to his fascinating figures, we are also showing drawings/paintings which, although they form the basis of his sculptural inventions, have developed into completely independent, high-quality pictorial objects on wooden supports.

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Vernissage: Friday May 02- 6-9 pm

Exhibition: May 02 until June 28, 2025