THE SAND MAN 2019

Curator: I'm immediately struck by the texture. It feels both earthy and otherworldly, with a subdued palette of terracotta and hints of ochre. Editor: Indeed! We're looking at "THE SAND MAN," a 2019 mixed-media piece by Sergio Mario Illuminato. The work employs matter painting techniques with acrylics, inks and watercolors. It appears the artist is engaging figuration in relation to abstraction here, complicating any single reading of form. Curator: The figures, if we can call them that, appear as isolated nodes. Note their strange forms. Each one appears as if connected by an invisible thread. It recalls fragmented memories and dreams – those fleeting images that the Sandman delivers. Is it invoking personal narrative? Editor: The title definitely points toward something psychological – the realm of dreams, childhood mythologies. But the materials themselves contribute heavily to its socio-historical presence. "Matter painting," popularized in the mid-20th century, frequently stood as a challenge to traditional easel painting. These artists favored the raw presence of materials over the illusion of depth. Consider someone like Alberto Burri as an immediate forefather... Curator: Ah, yes, the Arte Povera connection. But in this context, how do you read the tension between its tactile nature and the suggestion of the dreamlike state? Editor: The painting invokes materiality while evoking the insubstantial nature of memory and dreams – quite a striking contrast! Curator: I agree. It seems the artist invites us to find solidity in the intangible. A kind of waking dream, brought to life through physical, weighty materials. Editor: I’d add that Illuminato asks us to also look to what’s outside ourselves—to engage the broader history of how art's relationship to society shifts over time. The art itself serves a socio-cultural touchstone in history. Curator: Yes, perhaps that tension is the whole point – this oscillation between the subjective dream world and art's historical context... Editor: I’ll be considering that point for quite some time, I think!