Today is the opening of TROPICO a new solo show by Italian artist TELLAS at MAGMA gallery in Bologna, Italy.
TROPICO tells of a long trip to the State of Queensland, Australia, made by Tellas in June. As in a precious and intimate travel journal, the artist tries to remember with his works the colors, the scents, the suggestions and the landscapes of those faraway lands.
A magic realism, where we find the atmosphere of the impenetrable mangroves of Daintree forest, the world’s oldest tropical forest, the green eucalyptus, the magnificent red of the banksia, the palms rising up to the blue of the sky, and the sun that during the winter solstice culminates at zenith.
The large fields of color, something new for Tellas, contain minute naturalistic details and at the same time vibrant abstract shapes that seem to fluctuate in the light air, just before a sudden rain.
Each work becomes a surreal fragment of a luxuriant nature, almost asphyxiating, yet silent, mysterious, in which it is easy to switch from observer to being watched guests, as in the magnificent and imposing Wet Tropics. The touches of white, which in Tropico Assoluto become blades of light, in the works on paper dictate the rhythm of composition.
The Queensland, a vast territory divided between rain forests, coral reefs and tropical forests, extends for nearly two million kilometers in North-East Australia; in the works of the exhibition, the strength of these wild spaces is revealed, represented by an unbroken flow of colors that seems to be constantly renewed with new meanings, new details, new adventures and paths to undertake.
Each large wall, painting or work on paper of Tellas describes a world, faraway or close, real or imaginary, that tell about a primordial nature and energy from which we feel attracted. His works are a personal and intimate vision of the elements of the landscape, a meditative process that combines space and shapes, turning man into a wayfarer, lost in a boundless world. With their bright colours and surreal details, the paintings are richly representational: the evidence of the artist’s hand is in every sign, able to echo us our personal landmarks.
The exhibition runs through january 1st at the gallery located on Via Santo Stefano n. 164 40125 Bologna – Italia.
Tellas (Cagliari, 1985) in 2014 has been listed by the Huffington Post US as one of the 25 most interesting street artists worldwide; in 2015 Tellas was featured in The Urban Contemporary Art Guide, edited by the important Graffiti Art Magazine, selected among the 100 best emerging artists of the year worldwide. His participations to international festivals are countless, among these Artmosphere, the first Street Art Biennale in Moscow in 2014 (with 70 international artists) and La Tour Paris Project, in 2013, considered one of the most innovative contemporary art projects worldwide. In 2015 he realized a huge public work in Cagliari, the Capital of Italian Culture for that year, while in 2016 he makes major public interventions in Madrid, Spain and Albany and Perth in Australia. Significant also the collaborations with some historical Italian fashion brands, including Salvatore Ferragamo and Marni. Whit the last one, Tellas created in two different periods videos and projects, also presented at the 56th Venice Biennale.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
