Omar Galliani : Great Italian Drawing
Works by Omar Galliani

Vernissage: 13 December 2007 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Exhibition: 14 December 2007 - 12 January 2008
Venue: Schoeni Art Gallery, 21 - 31 Old Bailey Street, Hong Kong

Schoeni Art Gallery is delighted to announce our latest exhibition Omar Galliani: Great Italian Drawing by acclaimed and recognised Italian artist, Omar Galliani on 13 December 2007. Omar Galliani has participated in three Venice Biennales, as well as numerous international exhibitions including, more recently, China. Galliani is an established artist, and his style of portraiture combines arresting realism with sensitive technical finesse to seamlessly blur the line between reality and supernatural mindfulness. For the past 30 years, Galliani's experimentation with form has evolved to greater imbibe the "soul" of his subjects within his works. Since the 80s, Galliani has exhibited an almost clairvoyant awareness of rich, spiritual nuances and dynamically combines the serenity of Oriental meditation and mantra with Western spirituality and iconography.

Technically, Galliani uses pencil, pastel and ink in his works, employing the same classic skills of chiaroscuro and sfumato as his forebears Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Tiziano and Michelangelo. Yet through his exploration of form recessing into the canvas, Galliani somehow manages to pluck soulfulness out of the 2 dimensional obscurity of the canvas. Many of Omar Galliani's subjects are young women, although his collection does include a few portraits of young men - the faces of his subject matter are at times overlaid with expressive markings or "tattoos", which creates the impression of veiling form with an otherworldly layer, lending texture and substance to an already realistic image. Through such experimentation, Galliani injects sensuality into his expressive force, drawing together emotion, eroticism, thought, reflection and a sense of infinite contemplation into the expression and stature of his figuration.

Galliani's devotion to the medium of drawing is obviously at the fore of his immaculate pieces, and in the tradition of Leonardo's dedication to perfection in pictorial form; one can sense the artist's relentless pursuit of the art of excellence. A great proportion of Galliani's works comprise portraits of faces - an anatomical region which both eastern and western traditions and ideologies have understood as being the window to the personality, and indeed the soul. In fact, some deem such a perfect representation of the human form as sinful, and yet Galliani's works emit a saintly glow of bliss and serenity, much like one would sense from a religious icon with its beatific radiance of sublime enlightenment and spirituality.

Recalling the sacred and transforming the physical into the esoteric is a rare act of artistic transubstantiation, and it is through Galliani's study and movement through the realms of dream and shadow that such divine talent and creativity emerge. Mystical wisdom, contemporary subject matter and silhouettes of private meditative force tremble with the light and dark contrasts that span human psychology and spirit to present humanity in still entirety.

Written by Alexandra Hamlyn

Click on image for an enlarged view.

Mantra I (diptych) Polychrome pastels on board 50 x 100 cm, 2007

Santi, Insetti, Fiori (Saints, Inserts, Flowers) Pencil on board 100 x 100 cm, 2007

Dopo Rabat (After Rabat) Polycromy pastels on board 100 x 100 cm, 2007

Insetti, fiori, santi (Insects, Flowers, Saints) Pencils + Polychrome pastels on board 80 x 80 cm, 2007

The "maestro" Omar Galliani will do a live performance during the vernissage; drawing "live" in his unique and particular technique with pencil on wood and will finish the work over several days at Schoeni Art Gallery.

A comprehensive press pack is available upon request.
Catalogue is available.

For interview arrangements with the artist or further information please contact Selina Liu.

Exhibition venue:	Schoeni Main Branch, 21 - 31 Old Bailey Street, Central, Hong Kong
Opening Date:	6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, Thursday, 13 December 2007
Exhibition runs:	14 December 2007 - 12 January 2008 Monday - Saturday 10:30 am - 6:30 pm. Closed on Sundays and public holidays.
Contact Details:	Selina Liu, Tel: +852 2869-8802     Fax: +852 2522-1528 gallery@schoeni.com.hk    www.schoeni.com.hk

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