Contemporary Art Issue | In the Gallery: Tonino Mattu – The Golden Days (2021) @contemporaryartissue | Uploaded July 2021 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
CAI Gallery is pleased to present The Golden Days, a solo exhibition by the Italian artist Tonino Mattu. In this show, Mattu presents a series of paintings and a site-specific installation marked by an ambiguous narrative, functioning as an undercurrent questioning the golden days of our history up to today.
Tonino Mattu (born in 1979 in Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy, resides and works in Oristano, Sardinia, Italy) is known for his characteristic oil paintings of figures hovering between reality and fiction, effectuated by using a warm palette dominated by burnt umber and Venetian red. The Italian painter continuously examines the human figure from a pictorial and socio-historical point of view, marked by a strong affinity for history. With The Golden Days, Mattu takes on the collective trauma of the contemporary man, offering not only a critical note to our recent history, but also providing comfort in its beauty.
“An ongoing quest for documents, illustrations, maps, audiovisuals and photographic testimonies of the previous century up to today make the foundation of my work. For me, painting is an instrument for analysis and knowledge as it is able to activate the process of reinstating the meaning of images, suggesting new readings, new stories and thus, new truths. From an ideological point of view, in contrast to the systems of classification and written history, the pictorial practice of painting is a way to revive historiographical research, resulting in an antithesis of the archival practice from which it departed.”
Mattu participated in solo and group exhibtions at renowned institutions such as the 54th Venice Biennale at the Italian Pavilion in Venice, Italy; the Italian Institute of Culture in Bucharest, Romania; the Man Museum in Nuoro, Italy or the Quartissimo Museum in Quartu Sant’Elena, Italy. The Italian has been selected for multiple art awards, including the Wells Contemporary Art Award and the Marchioni Award. Further, Mattu’s work features in major public and private collections such as the Banca di Sassari, the Man Museum, Vittorio Sgarbi Collection and the Fondazione Pio Alferano.
More information on caigallery.com
CAI Gallery is pleased to present The Golden Days, a solo exhibition by the Italian artist Tonino Mattu. In this show, Mattu presents a series of paintings and a site-specific installation marked by an ambiguous narrative, functioning as an undercurrent questioning the golden days of our history up to today.
Tonino Mattu (born in 1979 in Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy, resides and works in Oristano, Sardinia, Italy) is known for his characteristic oil paintings of figures hovering between reality and fiction, effectuated by using a warm palette dominated by burnt umber and Venetian red. The Italian painter continuously examines the human figure from a pictorial and socio-historical point of view, marked by a strong affinity for history. With The Golden Days, Mattu takes on the collective trauma of the contemporary man, offering not only a critical note to our recent history, but also providing comfort in its beauty.
“An ongoing quest for documents, illustrations, maps, audiovisuals and photographic testimonies of the previous century up to today make the foundation of my work. For me, painting is an instrument for analysis and knowledge as it is able to activate the process of reinstating the meaning of images, suggesting new readings, new stories and thus, new truths. From an ideological point of view, in contrast to the systems of classification and written history, the pictorial practice of painting is a way to revive historiographical research, resulting in an antithesis of the archival practice from which it departed.”
Mattu participated in solo and group exhibtions at renowned institutions such as the 54th Venice Biennale at the Italian Pavilion in Venice, Italy; the Italian Institute of Culture in Bucharest, Romania; the Man Museum in Nuoro, Italy or the Quartissimo Museum in Quartu Sant’Elena, Italy. The Italian has been selected for multiple art awards, including the Wells Contemporary Art Award and the Marchioni Award. Further, Mattu’s work features in major public and private collections such as the Banca di Sassari, the Man Museum, Vittorio Sgarbi Collection and the Fondazione Pio Alferano.
More information on caigallery.com
