Gabriele De Santis

De Santis has been praised for his ability to balance texture, shape and monochrome with his recent series of painted-over slabs of marble. In these compositions the rippled becomes an integrated and integral material whose surface consistency is emphasised through the vivid colours that surround it. These works are oftentimes displayed as diptychs with parenthetical brackets that are evocative of openness and closure. Negative and positive space become indistinguishable.
As De Santis describes, “Using the background texture, premade by nature, and imposing areas of monochrome on top, I am playing with the hierarchy of background and foreground within painting.” Simultaneously, the artist’s painting deals with natural change as the metamorphic rock’s appearance has altered over time.