SPLEEN 2019

Sergio Mario Illuminato made Spleen, a 100 x 120 cm painting, with what looks like oil on canvas, and there's real energy to the way he's built up that surface. I can see these scratches and jabs in the paint - it's like he's been digging at the canvas to find this figure, this ghostly form, emerging from the dark ground. The colours are muted, blues and purples, with flashes of red and gold, like embers glowing in the dark. Look at how the figure is outlined in white, almost glowing against the murky background. The paint is thick in some places, thin in others, revealing the texture of the canvas underneath. There is a real sense of depth and atmosphere, a feeling of being submerged in something heavy and melancholic. The way that the figure seems to dissolve into the background, suggests a kind of internal struggle, a battle with the self. Illuminato reminds me of artists like Anselm Kiefer, with his layered surfaces and dark, brooding palette. Art is always a conversation.