JENNIFER GUIDI – ECLIPSE
2019-03-25Contrast—that necessary component in dualism and its paradoxical opposite, nondualism—is thematically central to this exhibition. Drawing on Palazzo Belgioioso’s Neoclassical architecture that locates harmony between grandiose, decadent scale and simplified geometric forms after Vitruvius’ principles of symmetry (proportion idealized through firmitas (strength), utilitas (functionality), and venustas (beauty)), Guidi’s paintings symbolically riff on emblems in the building’s details. For example, the ceiling’s plaster applique bust of Venus, goddess of love, and the terrazzo floor’s 8-point star, denoting a mandalic compass linking heaven to earth, inspired Guidi to step up her compositional calibrations of chance, intuitive growth, and engineering with esoteric investigations of archetypes like serpent and pyramid. Her rainbow-spined snake paintings are visual manifestations of raw kundalini energy moving through chakras, uncoiling into third eye enlightenment through the serpent’s forehead. In her exhibition’s cosmogony, snake represent rebirth, transformation, and eternal renewal—apt for a Spring opening date—while pyramids might spark reference to the Ancient Egyptian architectural practice of erecting triangular bridges between living and dead to aid in afterlife navigation, or, Neoplatonic visions of a pyramidal world order.
Opposite – Heart Chakra (Yellow and Light Green #1PT, Green Sand SF #1PT,Lavender Ground), 2019
Exhibition runs through to May 18th, 2019
Massimo De Carlo
Piazza Belgioioso 2
20121 Milan
