Alba Vermiglia 2020

Curator: This is Roberto Ferri’s painting "Alba Vermiglia," created in 2020 using oil paint. Its dramatic composition and use of chiaroscuro are quite striking. What's your initial reaction to this work? Editor: Bleak! Almost oppressively so. The stark lighting feels biblical, doesn’t it? Like a spotlight on mortality. Curator: The Baroque influence is palpable; Ferri masterfully employs deep blacks to enhance the dramatic effect. Note the interplay of light on the figure's skin and the crimson cloth—a traditional example of tenebrism. Editor: Right, the cloth. That saturated red amidst the darkness almost pulsates with a vitality that's at odds with the... well, the scene of possible expiration. But what IS that reptilian contraption jutting from his chest? Curator: It seems to be the focal point, an abstract form of organic sculpture. It disrupts the realism, introducing surrealistic elements which clash provocatively against Ferri's meticulous detail in the figure’s anatomy. It pierces his chest like a lance. Editor: A lance… or perhaps something more symbolic, even monstrous? It brings to mind ancient myths of sacrifice. Is the reptile meant to be a dragon, or a messenger from another realm? There’s also something tragically intimate about the composition, the close-up cropping that forces us to confront vulnerability head-on. Curator: Precisely. By situating this enigmatic intrusion directly on the chest, at the core of life, Ferri compels us to contemplate the themes of life and death in their most basic, almost brutal form. Editor: I feel this tension; the hyper-realism of his physical form, rendered with breathtaking skill and juxtaposed against something…otherworldly, or at least intentionally ambiguous. I guess the open question makes this artwork so affecting. Curator: Ultimately, it asks if what we can analyze is more important than what cannot be explained by our faculties. Editor: Absolutely! Now that is a provocative conversation about the picture! Thank you. Curator: It has been my pleasure.