Giudizio Universale 2015

Roberto Ferri made this dramatic painting called Giudizio Universale, or Last Judgement. The whole thing is draped in a kind of golden gloom, like an old master with a tan! There's clearly a lot going on, a real whirlwind of naked bodies. Ferri has used very fine brushes and thin glazes of paint, which give the figures a smooth, almost porcelain-like quality. Notice how the light catches the curves of their bodies, making them glow against the dark background? It's all very controlled, very deliberate. Look at the way he's rendered the folds of the white cloth draped around Christ, or the muscular tension in the figures struggling below. There's a real sense of weight and volume, which gives the scene a powerful, almost overwhelming presence. It reminds me a little of Caravaggio, who also used strong contrasts of light and dark to create dramatic effects, but Ferri's figures are somehow more idealized, more polished. It's like he's taken the drama of the Baroque and given it a slick, contemporary twist. Anyway, it's a real conversation across time.