De Luca Fine Art | Gallery presents landscape work of Enzo Maio
By Elisa Pennate
Originally Published: 2010-05-30
Italian artist Enzo Maio’s paintings are officially on exhibit for the first time in Canada, at the De Luca Fine Art | Gallery in downtown Toronto.Corrado De Luca, the director and curator of the De Luca Fine Art | Gallery, is pleased to be exhibiting Maio’s paper and canvas paintings.
De Luca, who grew up in the art business, is very passionate about bringing Italian artists to the attention of Canadian art lovers here in Toronto. It’s been one of his mandates for the more than four years that he has operated his gallery.
In addition to highlighting the works of contemporary Italian artists, (both established and upcoming) De Luca has access to historical artists as well, and is now trying to include the works of a few artists who originate from different countries in Europe.
De Luca is also interested in creating a forum for Canadian artists to share their works on an international level.
“[The] goal of [the] gallery [is] to contribute to [the] multiculturalization of Toronto’s art scene,” says De Luca. “I would like to make the Canadian artists grow internationally.”
De Luca plans on bringing Canadian artists to Italy so that they can have their work exhibited in Italian art galleries, as this will help to strengthen the bridge that the De Luca Fine Art | Gallery works to create between the artistic scenes of Italy and Canada.
For now, however, De Luca is happy to have his gallery present the works of Enzo Maio.
On Thursday May 20 the De Luca Fine Art | Gallery officially welcomed Maio’s work with an exhibition entitled “Landscapes- Work on Canvas and Paper,” where a wide range of attendees, including collectors and artists had the chance to see varioius works by Maio, who currently lives and works in Vercelli, Italy.
“This exhibition is a collection of recent work combined with previous work to give the audience an overlook of Maio’s work,” says De Luca.
De Luca points out that Maio’s past works tend to be on the darker side with dark greens and grey colours. However, Maio’s more recent work is experimental —there are more bright colours combined with earthy tones.
Maio is an artist who deals with landscapes of Novara (his native land), says De Luca. Some of the landscape scenes depict hills and countrysides.
“Maio’s paintings are very elegant paintings — timeless work — yet simple,” De Luca explains.
In order to understand Maio’s work, however, one must also understand his artistic style. Maio’s work is described as “informal naturalism,” which means the artist is painting reality. In this case Maio paints landscapes but infused within the painting is the feeling that the artist has towards their surroundings.
“Maio is painting his own state — the feeling —as he is painting the landscape,” said De Luca.
What De Luca particularly likes about Maio’s work is the difference between both forms that he uses.
For example, on paper Maio’s work moves more towards abstraction. It looks like he uses a watercolour technique, but instead you see pencil marks from the sketches, and after painting he scratches the paint off when it is about to dry and this scratching technique creates the abstract because Maio is infusing emotion.
Maio’s work on canvas combines a material component, and De Luca describes it as seeing the scraps from sharpening a pencil scattered on top of the painting.
According to De Luca, essentially, all these techniques represent Maio’s not wanting “to steer away from his own interior.”
For more information on Italian artist Enzo Maio, and to see the exhibition of his works, which runs until June 20 at the De Luca Fine Art | Gallery. Contact the gallery directly at 416-537-4699 to book an appointment. The De Luca Fine Art | Gallery is located at 1153-A Queen Street West, Unit 203. The gallery’s next exhibition will feature Giovanni Cerri who deals with urban art.
“Maio’s paintings are very elegant paintings — timeless work — yet simple,” De Luca explains.
In order to understand Maio’s work, however, one must also understand his artistic style. Maio’s work is described as “informal naturalism,” which means the artist is painting reality. In this case Maio paints landscapes but infused within the painting is the feeling that the artist has towards their surroundings.
“Maio is painting his own state — the feeling —as he is painting the landscape,” said De Luca.
What De Luca particularly likes about Maio’s work is the difference between both forms that he uses.
For example, on paper Maio’s work moves more towards abstraction. It looks like he uses a watercolour technique, but instead you see pencil marks from the sketches, and after painting he scratches the paint off when it is about to dry and this scratching technique creates the abstract because Maio is infusing emotion.
Maio’s work on canvas combines a material component, and De Luca describes it as seeing the scraps from sharpening a pencil scattered on top of the painting.
According to De Luca, essentially, all these techniques represent Maio’s not wanting “to steer away from his own interior.”
For more information on Italian artist Enzo Maio, and to see the exhibition of his works, which runs until June 20 at the De Luca Fine Art | Gallery. Contact the gallery directly at 416-537-4699 to book an appointment. The De Luca Fine Art | Gallery is located at 1153-A Queen Street West, Unit 203. The gallery’s next exhibition will feature Giovanni Cerri who deals with urban art.
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