Nature on Stage
Nov 5, 2016 - Nov 17, 2016
Spazio makemake | spazio e arte - Via del boschetto 121, 00184, Roma
curated by Giovani Argan
The exhibition, curated by Giovanni Argan, displays to the visitors the latest works of the young Roman artist, whose style focuses on the dialog between realism and classicism. Costanza Alvarez takes on the role of a director and prepares a “stage” in her paintings where people, fruits, and animals play a silent script. An intense light, much like spotlights, strikes her subjects, awarding them with body and presence. Beyond those, there is only backstage darkness. It is in the attention to detail and the precise brush stroke that one can perceive the influence of the Flemish and Italian paintings of the late 1500s and the peak of the 1600s, while Caravaggio’s influence echoes in the powerful contrasts between light and dark. With the goal of conducting an undisturbed investigation of reality, Costanza Alvarez inserts the subjects of her works into bare spaces, which allow her to study natural forms in all their singularity. The artist inspects Nature in its depth to give it back in a renewed dimension where the subjects reveal themselves in the poetic mystery of their essence.
The curtain rises: Nature takes the stage. The artist takes on the role of a director and prepares a “stage” in her paintings where people, fruits, and animals play a silent script. An intense light, much like spotlights, strikes her subjects, awarding them with body and presence. Beyond those, there is only backstage darkness. Powerful contrasts between light and dark model the shapes, outline the contours. You can hear the echo of Caravaggio’s naturalism and luminism: subjects rich in realism emerge from the dark background of the canvas.
(Translation by Jelena Cervić)
Video by Nicola Pietromarchi
