In the Moscow Museum of Modern Art opened an exhibition of Italian landscape painter Franco Viola entitled «Rethinking Nature»

In the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Tverskoy Boulevard, 9, Gallery «Zurab») has opened a personal exhibition of Italian artist Franco Viola, a recognized master of landscape painting. The project «Rethinking Nature» Viola presents expressive landscapes, which have a symbolic embodiment of the original forces of the cosmos and the ancient philosophy of four elements.

Franco Viola was born in the Sicilian town of Gaeta March 12, 1953. At the beginning of his artistic career, he worked primarily graphics. During the frequent walks around the city Franco zarisovyval elements of landscape, trying to feel, to recognize and display the spirit of nature - the mysterious, as in the poetry of Goethe, or in lyrical paintings of Paul Klee.

Early works in watercolor and oil have already demonstrated the ability to combine the real image of Viola and the inner spirit of the landscape, giving it incomprehensible sensual beginning. Artistic skills Franco Viola mastered along with studies of science and research in astronomy and space exploration. This brought to his work a holistic approach, as well as enriching a number of his figurative paintings.

Creative and conceptual way of Franco Viola, based on an analysis of color and light of landscape structure, formed under the influence of Nordic expressionism of artists such as Emil Nolde, Ludwig Kirchner, Edvard Munch. Later in the works of Viola became clearly felt the artistic language of the New York School of abstract expressionism. Thus, in recent pictures Franco Viola reflect an increased interest in minimalism Barnet Newman, lyrical abstraction Mark Rothko and aesthetic concepts of Clifford Steel.

In the early 1990s, critics and the general public appreciated the work of Franco Viola. After the first personal exhibition in Italy (1993) Viola was invited to showcase their work in Washington. In the same year in Paris, was published his first monograph, which was soon followed by another eight. Franco Viola Solo exhibitions were held in the Museum of Modern Art Varese (2005) and at the Vienna Art History Museum (2006).

Amnon Bartsel, curator of the exhibition «Rethinking of nature»:

In «telescopic» landscapes Viola neither the people nor the structures built by man. However, this nature is harmoniously exist without people, for example, that the trees appear to be animated, as if they mimic human emotions. Trees are the main actors in the human drama, where feelings are reflected in the smallest movements of the branches. Such techniques have met us in the symbolism of Arnold Beklina at the end of the XIX century, and then the psychological expressionism of Edward Munch.

act of creating paintings in Viola Franco - this is the result of a continuous creative process, following the contemplation of nature and its relationship to place, time, variability of human nature and society. This process of rethinking the nature of cognitive and emotional manner. During the years of Franco Viola creativity, the process has resulted from the direct study of nature through the artistic language of expressionism and abstract expressionism addition to the unique style of painting.

Exposure to MMSI (Tverskoy Boulevard, 9, Gallery «Zurab») is open from 28 November to 21 December.

Source: press release MMSI