Schiava Della Luce 2017

Roberto Ferri made this figurative painting with oils. Seeing all this flesh and chain, I think about the artist slaving away in his studio, layering coat upon coat of paint, hoping to strike the right balance between classical form and contemporary feeling. The texture is so smooth and the color so subtle it’s like he is carving marble with his brush. I feel like I can see his struggle, the tension between control and intuition, as he tries to make the body both present and allegorical. I imagine the pressure he might have felt to make something beautiful, meaningful. The chain coming from the arm is a bold statement. It makes me think about Goya and other artists using the body to represent larger forces. We painters are always in conversation with each other. We look at the past, remix it, and try to bring it into the present. Ferri's painting makes me want to lock myself in the studio and start mixing some colors!