GLOBO | ENRICO MINGUZZI

Enrico Minguzzi’s practice (Cotignola, 1981) questions nature and explores its relationship with humans and art. What Minguzzi showcases in his artworks are natural phenomena, mutations, and changes that occur at a molecular level, so unknown that they almost appear as alien manifestations, matter from another world.

Globo (2023) is an oil painting characterized by the addition of gold leaf between the paint and the white canvas. This process allows the artist to apply color and then remove only some parts of it using solvents, thus giving value and importance to the process of creation. Usually, Minguzzi does not prepare sketches or drafts of the final drawing he will paint, preferring instead a sort of improvised painting that allows him to create a dynamic and open dialogue between himself and the artwork.

The subject that takes shape in Globo is an unidentified object that seems to float above a gray shelf. At first glance, it might appear to be an egg, as the exterior color is white and the shape is oval, but the surface of the figure is strangely fragmented – as if the object were partially dissolved into nothingness – revealing the interior. Inside the shell, in addition to the inner surface of gray color, golden spots are visible, perhaps traces of what could be the content, now disintegrated or in a development phase.

The black background suggests the photographic approach that Minguzzi chose for the realization of this painting, as if the subject were something alien to be documented.
Maintaining this stylistic feature, the artist adds a reddish light coming from the right, positioned outside the frame and therefore not visible, yet its faint glow reflects on the shelf and the object creating a suggestive atmosphere.

Globo is a painting meticulously crafted in every detail, fascinating and mysterious: it is not possible to affirm with certainty whether the alien object is in the midst of a generative or, conversely, destructive phase, just as it is impossible to determine its origin. The only certainty, which the artist cunningly exploits to capture the viewer’s attention, is the fascination mixed with fear one feels towards something unknown and still unexplored.

Enrico Minguzzi
Globo, 2023
Oil on gold leaf on canvas, 150 x 200 cm
Courtesy the artist and Altro Mondo Contemporary Art

17/04/24