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)

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