SAMURAI

Lara Martinato’s solo exhibition “SAMURAI” will be held at the PUNTO SULL’ARTE GALLERY – VERNISSAGE THURSDAY 21st JUNE– from 22nd JUNE to 4th AUGUST 2018.

Played out in perfect equilibrium between tradition and the avant-garde, Lara Martinato’s work explores the search for spirituality through the figure of the Samurai, the emperor’s warrior dedicated to sacrifice and to death.
Preparing the canvas with chalk and clay, the artist obtains a rough and irregular surface on which the oil and the gold leaf create iridescent effects of light, while the figures – warriors and warrioresses – appear uncertain, ghostly, as if the eye is able to take them in only for an instant before they disappear. Heroism, discipline, self sacrifice form an underlying core, almost hidden but not quite, in work of great elegance.
Work that is enriched with religious suggestions in artworks such as 21 Samurai: a small army whose soldiers – almost barely perceptible in the enveloping golden light – seem to allude to the form of the cross.

LARA MARTINATO: Lara Martinato was born in Busto Arsizio (Varese) in 1971. Following a diploma obtained at the Arts High School, she studied Art and Restoration techniques at Palazzo Spinelli in Florence and she graduated from the Université Catholique in Paris. She began her professional career as a theatrical and cinema set painter in Rome. At the same time she also worked as a restorer for the Cultural Heritage Office. After a long stay in London, she returned to Italy where she continues to conduct her artistic-conceptual research that investigates, with an autobiographical component, the realities of contemporary society and esoteric mysteries. Her works can be found in major public and private collections from St. Petersburg to Cape Town, Miami, Rome and Milan. She lives and works in Milan.