Marco Pariani Italian, b. 1986

Marco Pariani studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan from 2005 to 2010, where he primarily worked in figuration. However, Pariani is now highly regarded for his vividly hued abstracted canvases that push the boundaries of the genre by exploring new techniques and embedding contemporary culture into his abstractions. Pariani’s process is labor-intensive, involving many layers of gesso that are tinted in different colors and sanded down to create a uniquely textured surface, a preparation that takes many days to complete. Through this method, he foregrounds the significance of color and process in his work. The monochrome or two-tone grounds create an enveloping field that is an important element in his paintings, as they remain a space of continued formal experimentation. In recent bodies of work, the artist has incorporated new tools such as domestic decorative rollers to incise patterns into the layers of paint.

Pariani’s particular appetite for colour and composition is largely informed by the urgency inherent to graffiti art, which he not only took to in earlier years but is also overwhelmingly present in his Brooklyn neighbourhood. Bringing together the multiplicity of these influences and moments in time, Pariani layers the elements that are the most dissonant, difficult to combine.