Flavio de Marco has developed a reputation over the last decade for his unique slant on landscape painting. His new show at the Italian Cultural Institute in London – Synecdoche Vedute – moves these ideas on dramatically.
Born in Lecce in 1975, de Marco first came to the attention of art aficionados at the end of the 20th Century with exhibitions based around the visual iconography of computer software, the digital screen-scapes so many of us stare at on a day-to-day basis. It wasn’t long, with exhibitions such as Souvenir Schifanoia (2007, Palazzo Ferrari, Massari) and Portrait of a Collection (2009, Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London), that de Marco started to bring visual references to older, classical art works into his imagery, placing them within a fractured modern context.
With Synecdoche Vedute – a project conceptually based around views of six European cities – his vision takes another leap forward. London, Berlin, Rome, Milan, Bologna and Lecce are not viewed with traditional landscape sensibilities; instead de Marco offers glimpses via tourist brochures, advertising hoardings, satellite mapping and abstraction. The six large canvases and eighteen smaller works have appeared already at the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia but this is their first visit to the UK.
Anyone with an interest in the modernist possibilities of landscape art would be well advised to take a look.
Synecdoche Vedute is at The Italian Cultural Institute from 8th September to 7th October.
The Italian Cultural Institute
139 Belgrave Square
London SW1X 8NX
Mon-Fri 10.00am – 8.00pm; Sat-Sun 10.00am – 4.00pm
www.icilondon.esteri.it
