Italian painter Flavio de Marco (Lecce, 1975) reflects on the contemporary world as a place where our vision is filtered through omnipresent screens and standardized images. He utilises the computer screen as a frame to depict today’s world and investigates this virtual space as a new model for painting: the flat and immaterial horizon of the screen replaces a three-dimensional reality with which the language of painting has always been challenged. The physical depth created by Renaissance masters vanishes, replaced by transitory two-dimensional images, with windows opening onto each other, compressing the space into close-range viewing on screen – the precariousness of a world reduced to a digital existence.
In 1999 Flavio de Marco began painting series of black and gray software screens, a geometric skeleton of empty frames on canvas, something to look at rather than use, a landscape of the 21st-century. Over the years, images began to appear inside De Marco’s computer screens, inspired by ads and touristic representations: “fast-landscapes”, an oversimplified vision of our planet that can be reached through a simple mouse click. These schematic images meet the legacy of art history, which arises from the variation in techniques and motives used by De Marco, a patchwork of artistic references evoking a kind of “photoshop for painters”. His works also have either a colored vertical bar – the error marks of a printing machine – or a gray stripe at the top of the frame, the command bar of a computer. A reminder of our projective and disembodied experience of the world.
2023
Ins offene..!, Kühlhaus Berlin
Era solo ieri, Pinacoteca nazionale, Bologna
Paperama, The Place Downstairs, London
Stanze, Fondazione Coppola, Vicenza (con M. Weischer)
Double écran, Galerie Richard, Paris (con P. Hurteau)
2018
Figure, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara
Schermorama (con P. Hurteau), Studio G7 Gallery
2017
Sui generi, Galleria Sabauda, Turin – Galleria Estense, Modena – Palazzo Corsini, Rome
Planetarium, M77 Gallery, Milan
Camera Obscura, State Conservatory, Tbilisi
Ein Abend im Botanischen Garten, Orto Botanico, Berlin
Miramare, Lachenmann Gallery, Konstanz
2016
Autobiografia, Charles V Castle, Lecce
2015
Asterismo, Galleria Ex Elettrofonica, Rome
Tiergarten, Christian Ehrentraut Gallery, Berlin
Marina, Studio G7 Gallery, Bologna
2014
Stella, Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna, Rome
2013
Stella, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin
Stella, Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam
2011
Synecdoche Vedute, Italian Cultural Institute, London
2010
Vedute, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia
Una domenica al Parco Sempione, Art for the World, Milan
2009
Portrait of a Collection, Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London
2007
Souvenir Schifanoia, PAC – Palazzo Massari, Ferrara
2006
Mimesi.04 che guarda Mimesi di Giulio Paolini, Pino Casagrande Gallery, Rome
2005
Mimesi.01(II), Galleria d’arte moderna, Bologna
Mimesi.02 + Luca Pancrazzi, C/O Care Of, Milan
2004
Mimesi.00, Studio G7 Gallery, Bologna
2003
Orizzonte, Studio Ercolani, Bologna
Superfici a confronto, L.I. ART, Casina Giustiniani, Rome (with G. Asdrubali)
2002
European Parlament, Polivalent Hall, Bruxelles
2000
Miralli Gallery, Viterbo
1999
Liba Gallery, Pontedera
2022
Peinture: obsolescence déprogrammée. Licenses Libres, Musée de L’Hospice Saint-Roch
Issoudun (France)
Hot Mess, Kühulhaus, Berlino
2021
Oursight_Landscape, Italian Embassy, Berlin
Peinture: obsolescence déprogrammée, MASC-Musée de L’Abbaye Sainte-Croix
Les Sables D’Olonne (France)
Auf Lange Sicht, Axel Obiger, Berlin
2018
Zurück zur Natur, Museum Frieder Burda / Salon Berlin, Berlin
ABC des Reisens, Kunstbibliothek Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin
2017
My way, A modo mio, MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna, Bologna
Art Verona, Stand SC13, Ex Elettrofonica Gallery
Il pittore e la modella, Assab One, Milan
2016
Il racconto naturale da Claude Lorrain a Giuseppe Penone, FAR Fabbrica Arte Rimini
Airmail, Assab One, Milan
Ex, MAMbo-Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna
Horizontal, Casa Italia, Rio de Janeiro
Premio Lissone 2016, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Lissone
2015
16º Premio Cairo, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan
Like a City, Babylon Open Atelier, Bolzano
2014
VI.Premio Fondazione VAF, Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Palazzo della Penna, Perugia
Resonance(s), Maison Particulière, Bruxelles
Welt ohne Zeit: Turnover, Leipziger Strasse 60, Berlin
2013
Le rotte della pittura, Museo Piaggio, Pontedera
Self-Titled Space, Park, Tilburg
2012
A long time ago, in a land far, far away…, John Jones, London
Landschaft, z.B., Galleria Fricke, Berlin
2011
54. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte della Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italia-Accademie, Venice
Made in Filandia, La Filanda, Pieve a Presciano
Italiens, Italian Embassy, Berlin
Mina a mano armata, Studio Geddes, Rome
2010
Impresa pittura, CIAC, Genazzano
2009
Obsession for Collection, University of Gloucestershire, Summerfield Gallery, Cheltenham
Far From Where We Came, Aaran Gallery, Tehran
Obsession, University of Leeds, Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds
Progetto Invisibile, Centro Culturale Old Pallouriotissa Market, Nicosia
Usine des rêves, 26 cc, Rome
2008
La forma confligge col tempo, Maria Grazia Del Prete Gallery, Rome
Eplorazioni, Temple University, Rome
Every line is the arch of an infinite horizon, The Agency Gallery, London – A61, Koln
Beware of the Wolf, American Academy, Rome
Vienna Biennale 08, ArtUnited, Wien
Premio Carmen Silvestroni 2008, Fabbrica delle Candele, Forlì
2007
In attesa di giudizio, MiArt Fair, Milan
The end begins, The Hospital, London
S.P.Q.R., ArtEmbassy Gallery, Berlin
Preview, Berlin Art Fair
Generazione astratta IV, Gallery of Modern Art, Catania
Ritratto di un quadro, L.i.b.r.a. Gallery, Catania
2006
Sovereign European Art Prize 2005, Bonhams, London
SS9, Galleria d’arte moderna, Bologna and Castel San Pietro
3500 cm², American Academy, Rome
Confini, PAC – Palazzo Massari, Ferrara
…nell’ultimo minuto del tempo regolamentare, Villa Massimo, Studio 6, Rome
Opening, L.i.b.r.a. Gallery, Catania
2005
Mimesi.01(I), Bologna Art Fair – Studio G7 Gallery
Crysalis. Teoria dell’evoluzione, Castello Svevo, Bari and Trani
New Thing, Spirale Arte Gallery, Milan
Rigorosamente Bianco e Nero, Studio G7 Gallery, Bologna
Public Abstraction, International Price Ermanno Casoli, Serra San Quirico
New Thing 2, Spirale Arte Gallery, Pietrasanta
Ground Zero. Lo spazio del Nulla, Palazzo della Pretura, Castell’Arquato
Premio Maretti, Museum of San Marino
Loop, Angelo Mai, Rome
2004
ZILCH, Arte e Ricambi Gallery, Verona
Mutevoli Confini, Edieuropa Gallery, Rome
Generazione astratta, Otello Cirri Center, Pontedera
2003
Le Figure Mancanti, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin
La Superficie Inquieta, Rocca di Bentivoglio, Bazzano
Mondi, Trevi Center, Bolzano
2002
Metapittura, Kunsthaus – Art Meran, Meran
cARThusia 2002. Territori, Certosa of Pontignano, Siena
2000
5 Stagioni, Studio Ercolani, Bologna
Pubblico Privato, Chiostri of San Pietro, Reggio Emilia
1998
Miti, leggende e storia nella nascita di una città, Stelline Foundation, Milan
1997
Attenzione alla solitudine del museo, Studio Ercolani, Bologna