L’Angelo La Morte E Il Diavolo 2018

Roberto Ferri painted "L’Angelo La Morte E Il Diavolo" sometime after being born in 1978, and he did it with oils, so it's got that classic, luminous glaze. The muted palette kind of sneaks up on you, doesn't it? It's like he’s wrestling with tradition, but making it his own. Look at the surface, how smooth it is. Ferri clearly put some hours into building up those layers, obscuring and refining. It’s like he’s trying to tell a story we already know, but with a twist. Notice the figures, they're so meticulously rendered, almost photographic, but they exist in this dreamy, ambiguous space. And then there's that figure in the background, Death, all cloak and shadow, rendered with charcoal dust. It's like Ferri is reminding us that even in the most polished surfaces, there's always darkness lurking. In a way he reminds me of Caravaggio - the way they both play with light and shadow to amp up the drama. Art isn't about answers, it's about questions, about seeing things in a new light, or a new shadow, maybe.