Roma Arte in Nuvola

For the second edition of the Roma Arte in Nuvola fair, Andrea Festa  a selection of works of Sinéad Breslin, Darin Cooper, Ryan Cosbert, Yann Leto, Emmanuel Massillon, Jesse Morsberger, Matt Phillips, Davide Quartucci, Jade van der Mark.

 

The violent materiality of Ryan Cosbert reveals an autobiographical and political interpretation in the marks she leaves on the canvas, among coffee beans, cowrie shells, and cement. The artist focuses on issues such as the African diaspora, the consequences of enslavement and oppression, and their historical and generational impact on the Black community. This suggestion is also embraced by Emmanuel Massillon, who contributes to the aforementioned political discussion, exploring it through ideas of rebellion: deconstructing familiar objects historically associated with the oppression of Black culture or cultural folklore. Darin Cooper continues the dialogue on African American heritage, presenting his interpretation of the methods of spiritual liberation that the Black community has created throughout history, and how this heritage continues to speak to us today.

 

Matt Phillips' touch is light and veiled, with contour lines disappearing and revealing the contrast between overlapping sophisticated color ranges. The accumulation and layering of marks create an elaborate visual constant, distorting the medium, which seems to try to contain the vibrant pictorial flow. Metaphysical atmospheres and suspended gazes echo in the paintings of Sinéad Breslin, who draws on her personal imagination in her creations, representing visions that are often perspectively flat, where extreme stillness gradually gives way to a sense of bewilderment and unease. This unease is emphasized in Davide Quartucci's isolated characters, with their decadent and deformed appearance, abandoned to themselves, in demented and childish attitudes, a eulogy to everything that good manners deny and that cover beauty rejects.

 

Proceeding further, we encounter the canvases of Yann Leto, who, with his dense painting and soft gestures, pursues a clear approach to socio-political criticism. His paintings highlight the unease of contemporary life and function as collages in which various typographical elements coexist with classical and modern elements. Pop culture and video game imagery are essential elements that recur in the work of Jesse Morsberger. In his intuitive and disenchanted work, the protagonists of the video game world are no longer a childish comfort zone, but are represented in attitudes that are human enough to become an uncomfortable sight. This discomfort is echoed in the still lifes of Jade van der Mark, who puts the spotlight on objects that she associates with greed and oppression. The works are a colorful reflection on the frenetic life of city dwellers, becoming an allegory of the compromises that are accepted on a daily basis in order not to upset the social balance.