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Perbacco
Patrizio Di Massimo
2016
Perbacco, 2016
14 hand-painted ceramics,
gold inlay
approx 180 x 105 x 105 cm
unique
The installation, Perbacco, created for the prize, is made of 14 painted ceramic amphorae arranged to form a pyramid. It was conceived as a sort of fantastical story dedicated to the Dionysian intoxication produced by the wine, through different stages, along a path that ascends from the CastelGiocondo estate to an ecstatic universe, suspended in time and space.
Each amphora features two scenes painted in pastel colours with golden inserts, in which the human figures have physical characteristics inspired by an imagery that links Italian painting, from Simone Martini to Carlo Carrà, to a northern European sensibility more in keeping with artists such as Lucas Cranach and Otto Dix, with faces showing blissful eyes and bodies with flowing shapes. The figures stand out against a black background, both inside and outside the amphorae; in interpretations of oriental mysticism, black is a colour that turns the divine into a blinding darkness.
The Artist
Patrizio Di Massimo
He was born in Jesi in 1983. He lives and works in London. Patrizio di Massimo reinterprets Italian tradition and identity through an interesting overlapping of tradition and modernity with a broad range of expressive languages, from drawing to sculpture, painting to video and even installation.
The main solo shows include:
2014 Patrizio Di Massimo, Are Ere Ire, T293, Rome; 2014 Patrizio Di Massimo, Soft Corners Lining White, Rowing, London; Patrizio Di Massimo, Me, Mum, Mister, Mad, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon; 2013 Patrizio Di Massimo, Monologue for two, Fiorucci Art Trust (performance); Patrizio Di Massimo, Inside Me, Present Future, Artissima, Turin (performance); Patrizio Di Massimo, The Lustfult Turk, Gasworks, London; Patrizio Di Massimo, Monologue for two, MdP1, Milan (performance); 2012 Patrizio Di Massimo, The Lustful Turk, Villa Medici, Rome; Patrizio Di Massimo, I want to live like this, T293, Rome; Patrizio Di Massimo, Buzzi’s Turandot (in the form of notes), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (performance); 2011 Patrizio Di Massimo, Modus Operandi, White Fish Tank, Ancona; 2010 Patrizio Di Massimo, The Negus said: Give me the lion keep the stele!, Art 41 Basel, Art Statements, with T293; Patrizio Di Massimo, Col Sole in Fronte, T293, Naples; 2009 Patrizio Di Massimo, Zilkha Auditorium1, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London.