Stefania Mainardi

1-15 April

Opening Reception
Thursday April 1 2010, 6-8pm

Putting Renaissance sculptures at the forefront of her paintings, Mainardi’s work turns these ancient characters into the paintings’ primary subject-matter, making them the focal points in piece. Painted in such an attentive, detailed way these painted statues possess a vitality that makes them appear closer to life. Finding those warm tones in the ordinarily cold marble sometimes gives the viewer a way to find a slight flush in that silent stone and maybe even imagine a pulse underneath that still surface. In other pieces where the facial features and the entire head are not there, just the central part of the body, there seems to be the opposite effect; a reinforcement of the fact that this is a statue being viewed. The proud, staged poise of the figures reiterates the its theatrical intent and unreal presence. Regardless of the varying characters vivacity, there is something in the broader picture that ties all of the artist’s pieces under her own aesthetic. The juxposition of the human figure with geometric or architectural elements is a theme that remains constant throughout all of her works. In some there is only some flatly spread paint cleanly contained within geometric shapes, somewhat referential to Mondrian’s work. In others, there is the same flat application of paint, but with some subtle gradation and movement to and from different shades. There also is some general construction of an architectural setting in the background. In a few it even seems to allude to a similar time and place (as the statues). Set against Roman arcs, pillars, and columns these statues appear right at home, with the exception of the flattened description, distancing itself from the figures, existing in a much more contemporary time. This visual: the divergence of subject-matter and background, the aesthetic gap between object and environment is the main weight behind Mainardi’s paintings.