Human mortality in sinister figures
Abstraction and modernism have become virtually synonymous in the history of 20th-century art. To talk of modern art, particularly of high modernism, is to evoke abstract compositions that do not depict recognizable forms but often exist for their own expressive sake, an attribute which postwar American modernist painting turned into one of its distinctive features. An abstract tradition continued to thrive in Europe, the continent of its origin, but so did figurative painting, also one of the most enduring aspects of 20th-century European art. Painters dedicated to the human image, among them Buffet, Dubuffet, Giacometti, Bacon, Balthus and Lucien Freud (coming to the fore at the time) produced some of the most compelling works in the art of postwar Europe, drawing attention to the depiction of man possibly under the influence of the humanist quests of existentialism. Andrea Martinelli, although a contemporary Italian artist in his 30s, seems drawn to this tradition of European figurative art. «Awe of the Figure,» a large one-man show currently on view at the Frissyras Museum is taken up by portraits of people, mostly aged or strange-looking creatures whose non-idealized depiction and often threatening expressions seem to speak of a human vulnerability comparable to postwar angst and its expression in art. Martinelli has his sitters look straight out at the viewer, their rather sinister, mysterious expressions producing a sense of emotional discomfort. Part of the unease stems from an underlying message of human mortality conveyed in the visual motif of a doubling, or twin to the main figure, which Martinelli usually paints behind his main sitter. Renaissance tradition In discussing the work of Martinelli, critics also cite Renaissance painting as another important tradition informing his work. In the prologue to the exhibition’s catalogue, the well-known art historian Edward Lucie-Smith mentions how Mantegna placed his figures above eye level, an angle that Martinelli also uses in his work. He also refers to Martinelli as a great draughtsman, an attribute which again can be traced back to the great masters of the Italian Renaissance. In many ways, Martinelli’s art is a revival of old traditions, which is what in turn makes his work resonate with a certain postmodernist mood. It is perhaps no coincidence that transanvanguardia, one of the most powerful trends of postmodernism, was rooted in Italy. This was back in the 1980s when Martinelli was still young, but the movement’s demand for a return to painting and its retrospective eclecticism have somehow found their way into Martinelli’s painting. Times, of course, have changed and the cultural ethos that informed the figurative painting of the ’80s is not the same today. The break with modernism and concepts such as authenticity, innovation and historical progress were notions that occupied the art of the time with an intensity that has abated since then. What remains is the acceptance of artistic diversity and it is this context that Martinelli’s art makes the most sense. Andrea Martinelli, «Awe of the Figure,» at the Frissyras Museum (7 Monis Asteriou, Plaka, 010.323.4678) to June 16.
