ANDREA VENTURA
ROOMS & NUDES
Alabaster figures in classical poses, stretched out beauties with spread legs, withered flesh and heavy breasts - nudes have been part of the standard repertoire of art history for centuries. So at first Andrea Ventura seems to lead us on familiar territory with his "Nudes" painted in classical style. There are nude women lounging on chairs and sofas, naked couples resting under trees or wrestling in the water. The represented scenes have an allegorical allure and are inspired by traditional academic poses. Brush stroke and coloring are reminiscent of the modern masters, Matisse, Cezanne, Corinth, Kirchner, Beckmann, who rebelled against the dogmas of academic painting with there very own versions of powerful, yet intimate nudes.
At second glance, Andrea Ventura's paintings deal with very contemporary emotional issues: the loneliness of the Facebook generation, the burden of making a relationship last, the weary frequent flyers paradise ... Basically, what we see are fantastical dreamscapes in which the viewer feels miraculously at home. This is particularly true for the freely-composed "Interiors", empty rooms, sometimes inanimate exterior views that convey the strange feeling you have been there before, drinking, eating or sleeping in those very same rooms - only when and with whom? Here too famous influences come to mind: Pierre Bonnard, Felix Vallotton and Edward Hopper. Just like his "Nudes" Andrea Ventura‘s "Rooms" tell intricate stories. Automatically you start making up tales for the absent residents. They've just gone out the door, run down the stairs, fled into the other room, where they sit now - naked! - and a little lost at an old-fashioned round table...
Andrea Ventura, born 1968 in Milan, lives in New York and Berlin. His illustrational work has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, Newsweek and many other newspapers, magazines and books. He has received awards from the Society of Illustrators for his portraits of Latrell Sprewell, Jorge Luis Borges and Glenn Gould, and a gold medal at the Lead Awards 2010.
solo exhibitions
2010 Rooms & Nudes, White Trash Contemporary, Hamburg
2009 Sans Souci, 2agenten für illustration gallery, Berlin
2008 Storie d’Amore, Galleria Rubin, Milan
2004 Sunday Afternoon, Galleria Rubin, Milan
group exhibitions
2006 Arte Fiera, Galleria Rubin, International Art Fair of Contemporary Art, Bologna
2005 Galleria Rubin, Frankfurt Art Fair
2005 Cross Over, Stragapede & Perini Art Gallery, Art and Fashion Made in Italy, Milan
2005 The Contemporary Italian Landscape, Palazzo Ducale di Gubbio, Gubbio
2004 Arte Fiera, Galleria Rubin, International Art Fair of Contemporary Art, Bologna
2003 Personal Responses in a Public World, The Foster Gallery, Haas Fine Art Center, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
2000 America Illustrata, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome
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