Gottfried Keller, ritratto 1986

In this untitled portrait of Gottfried Keller, Valerio Adami wields the brush with confidence and ease. The painting is a flurry of bold colours, sharply contrasting hues, and stark outlines; the face is blue and then a light blue, next to a white goat, the hands red, and the body green. I imagine Adami standing before the canvas, his mind racing with the possibilities of colour and form, deciding to apply paint with swift strokes, allowing each colour to assert its presence. Perhaps he paused, considering how the composition might unfold, or reflecting on the legacy of modern portraiture, thinking about the art of storytelling and the nature of representation. The texture of the paint is smooth, and the surface is flat. Adami is having a conversation with painting, and in turn he invites us to enter the conversation too.