LUCIANO VENTRONENudes

LUCIANO VENTRONENudes

The nude represents for Ventrone a moment of physical reflection on the spiritual beauty of the female body and its wonderful plasticity. Therefore Ventrone creates his nudes not with the mind turned to a real-life woman, but to what women symbolize: beauty, motherliness, sacredness, youth and the natural and soft harmony of forms. What moves the artist in these paintings is a sudden inspiration, more emotional than rational, originated from the desire to portray a girl with whom Ventrone had a very strong personal bond. Coincidentally she happened to be beautiful. However, hers was not a “commercial” beauty, on the contrary it was a full and solid one. Ventrone never indulges in idealized anatomies. As Alessandra Radaelli noted: “He is able to filter the sensuality of the body, constructing it through volumes like classical architecture. Layer after layer, the velvety texture of the epidermis comes to life on the black background, captivating and at the same time untouchable. There is no complacency nor mawkishness, just rapture and the feeling of the infinite patience needed in rendering the barely noticeable wrinkles of the elbow or the silkiness of the hair.”

These nudes are essentially portraits. The models are sitting or lying down, depicted from behind or in profile against a neutral background – black or grey – that excludes any spatial or temporal contextualization. The settings are brightly lit by sudden flashes and intense rays of light that the paintbrush captures on the canvas, crystallizing a moment of life and making it eternal. At the same time giving the artist the chance to express his unparalleled ability in offering the viewer an effortless and vivacious psychological analysis of the sitter.

Essay by Cesare Biasini SelvaggiEdition and Translation with permission of the Author by Alessandro Lorenzetti

Biasini Selvaggi, C., 2012. Luciano Ventrone. Dall’ibridazione arte-scienza ai “generi” pittorici nell’era delle tecnologie immateriali dell’informazione, il percorso di ricerca dal 1960 al 2012. In Carlo Cambi, ed. 2012. Luciano Ventrone. Rome: Carlo Cambi Editore. pp. 23-24.

1 Attesa oil on linen 80 x 100 cm (31 x 39 in)

2 Distrazione oil on linen 80 x 60 cm (31 x 24 in)

3 Risveglio oil on linen 35 x 90 cm (14 x 35 in)

4 Piccoli Movimenti oil on linen 80 x 60 cm (31 x 24 in)

5 Intimita oil on linen 80 x 60 cm (31 x 24 in)

6 Il Drappo Giallo oil on linen 90 x 60 cm (35 x 24 in)

7 Una Voce all’Improvviso oil on linen 100 x 80 cm (39 x 31 in)

8 Figura e Sfondo oil on linen 70 x 60 cm (28 x 24 in)

9 Manuela oil on linen 50 x 150 cm (20 x 59 in)

10 Di che si Tratta? oil on linen 80 x 60 cm (31 x 24 in)

11 Briciole di Cielo oil on linen 100 x 80 cm (39 x 31 in)

Selected Public, Corporate and Private Collections

Modern Art Collection of the Italian Senate Barilla Collection Umberto Agnelli Collection Carlo De Benedetti CollectionSilvio Scaglia Collection Ente Fiera Bologna Collection Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo Romano Prodi (Former Italian Prime Minister) Massimo D’Alema (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 CollectionAndrea Mascagni Collection National Gallery of Art, Washington DC USA Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan Collection Barclays Bank, UK Corporate Collection

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2013 Luciano Ventrone, Mucciaccia & Partners Gallery, Gillman Barracks, Singapore2012 Luciano Ventrone, Albemarle Gallery, London Luciano Ventrone, Musei di Villa Torlonia Casino dei Principi2011 Luciano Ventrone, Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York “Le Stanze dell’arte” Museo civico di San Francesco, Montefalco, Perugia2010 “Io Cerco” fondazione per i ragazzi del mondo Ibrahim Kodra, Melide Svizzera Palazzo del Broletto, Como Luciano Ventrone, Marble Palace – Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg 2009 L’Inverosimile Verosimiglianza, curated by Beatrice Buscaroli, Fondazione Bandera, Busto Arsizio Studio Forni, Milano Simposio, Albemarle Gallery, London 2008 Luciano Ventrone e l’eterno presente, Galleria Forni, Bologna Luciano Ventrone. Le verita dipinte, Palazzo Luigi Einaudi, Chivasso – Turin Luciano Ventrone, Albemarle Gallery, London 2006 Luciano Ventrone and the Eternal Present, curated by E. Lucie-Smith, Albemarle Gallery, London Luciano Ventrone, Correggio – Reggio Emilia Studio Forni, Milan 2004 Xenia. Ossia Il gioco degli occhi, Studio Forni, Milan 2003 Studio Forni, Milan 2002 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 Studio Forni, Milan 2000-1963 Over 40 solo exhibitions worldwide © Albemarle Gallery

Luciano Ventrone is regarded by the Italian art establishment, museums, curators and critics as one of the leading exponents of his genre. He is loved, admired and respected by the Italian people, collected by the Italian Government, Corporate Institutions and avid collectors to such extent that his one-man shows are complete sell-outs. Art Historian and Critic, Edward Lucie-Smith states, “Ventrone is often categorized as a ‘hyper-realist’. This implies that his work is somehow related to photography. As anyone who has looked at his paintings carefully will know, this is not the case. Far from offering us the somewhat flattened version of physical forms typical of the monocular vision of the camera, his paintings have an almost overwhelming solidity and physical presence, to the point where the nearest shapes seem ready to break through the front plane of the canvas. Despite any comparisons that can be made to the art of the past, whether to Caravaggio or to any other artist, this is painting that is intransigently modern, completely of our own day.” His paintings are in numerous public and private collections worldwide.

ALBEMARLE