L'Oniromante

Primo Marella Gallery is proud to welcome the opening of the extraordinary exhibition “L’Oniromante” (The Oneiromancer) by artist Agostino Arrivabene to its exhibition spaces in Milan. The opening event will be held on 22 February to offer the public an extraordinary experience through the artist's visions.

L'Oniromante follows the recent personal exhibition Thesauros curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, an anthological show in the prestigious spaces of Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara where the artist had already highlighted a literary path in reference to a corpus of works, executed over forty years of his vast production, where clear references were made to the works of great authors of the past such as Dante Alighieri, Etzra Pound, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Ovid and Hesiod; On this dialogue between painting and literature Arrivabene, in collaboration with Primo Marella, has constructed an itinerary in which the visions of dreams open up to a gaze that investigates more mysterious contexts of theurgic evocation, of mystical and visionary elevation in which the theophany of the gods transforms the works on display into true divine simulacra.

"the idea that the sacred passage between life and death is a definitive diaphragm, and as such an oppressive fear, is something that Arrivabene cannot accept, hence his unsuppressible tension towards the transcendent, towards the mystical [...] It is the threshold between light and shadow that Arrivabene continually breaks with the indefatigable force of the migratory bird". [1]

And it is between these opposites, light, shadow, paradise, hell, that Arrivabene sees in waking and dreaming his journey towards polluted sleeps where the dimension of oneiric visions becomes a prediction, an oracle, a miracle to face reality or to decipher in reality the mystery of an Eternal God with whom to have a dialogue and give substance and meaning to the reality of life.

It is in the black lands, where the vegetations of the dream are processed, that Arrivabene has repeatedly drawn his images, which have arisen through surrealist automatisms or by chance, with informal gestures of painting in his priming or from the oblivion of nights, in sleep, or from the hypnagogic visions arising from the abstract and mineral forms of his fossilised woods present here, painted stones executed from 2015 to more recent examples where dream creatures have always been protagonists. In some of the paintings, the cloud and its semantics are present in different expressions.

It becomes golden and entirely clad in gold leaf as in L’uomo blu or La mistica del Berillio almost simulating a giant bio-luminescent bacterium, and in Sogno where the cloud becomes an ectoplasmic presence, a hybrid between a warrior and a floating insect, or in the painting Contra mundum where the figure oppressed by a dense, earthly cloud becomes a living presence but also a foggy brake on the progress of the human journey. These works are the synthesis of an existential bearing that approaches the vision of a dream or mystical awareness, of a miraculous theophany.

Arrivabene learnt first from Jacob Böhome and then from William Blake that imagination is the first emanation of divinity, the body of God, the divine limbs, and he drew the conclusion with them that the imaginative arts are the most important divine revelation; it is through imagination that one separates from mortality with the immortality of beauty.

To relegate Arrivabene's multifaceted artistic journey into a precise poetics, stylistic references or artistic currents is limiting and reductive. At first glance, he might appear to be moved by the automatic randomness of a surrealist, or under the despotic whim of a bizarre inspiration, of a mad hysteria, and we might be misled into considering him a traveller from afar. In reality, the light that shines in his works is like a thunderbolt, an inner inspirational flame.

Oneiromancy, in the imagination of the Italian artist, represents the fusion between the world of dreams and the prophetic narration of an oracle. This term is composed of two key elements: 'Oniro', which derives from the Greek and means 'dream', and 'manzia', which means 'divinatory art' or 'prophecy'. Together, they evoke an artistic experience that feeds on the oneiric mystery and the ability to reveal hidden aspects of the human soul through art. In Arrivabene, oneiromancy is a unique visual language through which to explore the boundaries of reality and metaphysical vision. His works are characterised by his ability to transform dreamlike visions into palpable, fascinating and desituating images. The artist plunges into the depths of the subconscious, capturing the essence of dreams and creating a bridge between the real and imaginary worlds.

Internationally renowned for his artistry, he transports viewers on a journey beyond reality; it is an ode to unbridled imagination and dreamlike exploration.

The exhibition, elaborately curated by the artist himself, offers an experience that challenges perception and invites viewers to explore their inner selves. Arrivabene's works have been acclaimed for their ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, the everyday into the fantastic.

His impeccable technique and spiritual sensitivity are reflected in every brushstroke, creating a poetic dialogue between the artist and the viewer.

Agostino Arrivabene offers an intimate look into his interpretation of the meaning of dreams and visions. The works in the exhibition become a medium through which viewers can explore their own psyche, embarking on a fascinating journey through hyper-uranic and symbolic dimensions strongly influenced by his mystical perspective and unique artistic sensibility.

In this exhibition, Arrivabene expresses himself through a catalogue of diverse techniques ranging from oils on linen and board to refined tempera grassa of Renaissance memory, as well as a bronze sculpture with painting grafts created in 2020 entitled Simulacra.

There are monumental works such as La grande opera, a painting that is part of a cycle that has never been completed, where Arrivabene pays homage to the small landscape that gazes beyond the throne of the Virgin Mary in the altarpiece of Santa Maria in porto by Ercole de Roberti, now in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan; up to the large painting Il miracolo di Andrea, a work that was created by the triggering of the mineral forms of a small village stone painted by the artist and is present in the exhibition to show its iconographic correlation and the vertiginous leap in scale.

A very original installation synthesises in a conceptual machine the last triplet that closes Dante Alighieri's Canticle of Paradise where the four elements present in symbols lead to the intuition of the fifth element, which is love that moves all the elements in a perpetual motion and moment that yearns for the vision of God. There will be a number of petrified fossilised woods where Arrivabene has been skillfully grafting painting since 2014, with sober refinement, closing and rewriting his pictorial vision springing from the pareidolic visual intuitions of the natural and abstract forms of these stones.

This solo exhibition not only highlights the technical and varied talent that distinguishes Agostino Arrivabene, but also offers an in-depth look at his artistic evolution over the years.

Arrivabene has indeed built a successful career, exhibiting his works in world-famous galleries and museums. His distinctive talent has been celebrated with significant exhibitions such as his first anthological exhibition To Pathei Mathos in an international museum at the Panorama Museum in Badfrankenhausen, Germany, curated by Gerd Lindner and Peter Weiermair, the exhibition Anastasis at the Casa del Mantegna in Mantova and the Italian anthological exhibition Thesauros at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi.

Arrivabene has also collaborated with the opera house giving his artistic contribution to the sets and costumes for Samson et Dalila at the Monte Carlo Opera House in 2018, he participated in the 54th Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, in the Italian Pavilion, curated by Vittoro Sgarbi.

Arrivabene's works have been exhibited in solo and group shows around the world, which has helped consolidate his position as one of the most influential and innovative contemporary painters, and we are proud to host him in Milan.

Primo Marella Gallery is honored to be the stage for this extraordinary event and invites art lovers, enthusiasts and the curious to join us for the opening on 22 February to immerse themselves in the beauty of a dream come to life through the magic of art.

We invite you to participate in this extraordinary artistic experience that celebrates the power of dreams and the beauty of imagination.

[1] D.Galizzi . Anabasis something has to happen in the soul . In Catalogue exhibition Anabasis museo delle capuccine Bagnacavallo 2015 .