Matteo Negri

Smolka Contemporary and the curator Dr. Ema Kaiser present the latest series of works by the Italian artist Matteo Negri in this solo show in Vienna.

The composition of frequency

Meanwhile, around 1.35 pm on a very specific Tuesday in May, probably in Italy, near Milan, Matteo Negri’s perception is so captivated by the light and the landscape around him, that he translates these impressions into works of art.
 

The precise geometric compositions of the Italian artist do not quite reveal their underlying emotionality at the first moment of viewing. The visually fantastic effect of his works comes from a special technique developed by him in which foil, acrylic and metal are used.
 

With sophistication and due to an extensive exploration of colour, geometric shapes and materiality, Negri creates works that, despite their two-dimensionality, open up an immense depth to the viewer. His works make use of an extensive colour palette, which he transfers to the picture surface by means of foils in local colours. The material nature of the foils creates a reflective surface whose reflection immediately enters into dialogue with its surroundings and, when viewed, influences the effect of his art through every movement and change in the incidence of light. The site-specificity of the works, which expands the space in which they are located, also contributes to their depth effect.
 

A depth effect runs through all of Matteo Negri‘s works. The supposedly flat surface evolves due to his approach to conceiving surfaces as extending into space to form a continuum and consequently a staggered arrangement in space.
 

If the materiality of Negri‘s works entails site-specificity and reflection, form and colour manage to act as important layers of perception and composition. If one disentangles the layers of his works further, one may come to understand the emotional layer as a means to connect the technical components. If on the said Tuesday in May at 1.35 pm nature leaves the said impression on Matteo Negri – its play with light, its play with colours – then an emotional landscape emerges as in the work Meanwhile at 1.35 pm on Tuesday 23rd May.
 

– Dr. Ema Kaiser

Matteo Negri was born in 1982 in San Donato Milanese, Milan, Italy. He lives and works in Milan.