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Luciano Ventrone (1942-2021)

"Lo studio della pittura non è la mera rappresentazione dell'oggetto ma è colore e luce: i giusti rapporti fra le due cose danno la forma nello spazio. Il soggetto non va visto come tale ma astrattamente" - Luciano Ventrone.

Luciano Ventrone, pittore italiano, nasce a Roma. All'età di quattro anni viene ospitato in Danimarca da Metha Petersen, donna benestante ma soprattutto amorevole. Lo ricopre di cure e doni: fra le altre cose, gli regalerà una scatola di colori... quegli stessi colori che avrebbero segnato il suo futuro.

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Tornato in Italia dopo aver completato gli studi di base, sarà costretto, a causa delle non agiate condizioni familiari, a cimentarsi in vari mestieri che gli permetteranno però, nel 1960, di frequentare il Liceo Artistico di Roma.
Dopo il diploma conseguito nel 1964, si iscrive alla facoltà di Architettura che frequenterà sino al 1968; in quell'anno, dopo aver partecipato ai moti studenteschi, decide di abbandonare gli studi per dedicarsi interamente alla pittura che non solo non ha mai ha abbandonato ma che da tempo sono diventati fonte dei suoi unici guadagni.

Collabora, con i suoi disegni dal vero, alla stesura del testo universitario Sistema nervoso centrale di anatomia umana normale del Prof. Gastone Lambertini, docente dell'università Cattolica di Roma.
Affronta tutti i temi dell'arte contemporanea sino ad approdare al "realismo". Nel 1983 un articolo scritto da Antonello Trombadori su "L'Europeo" induce lo storico dell'arte Federico Zeri ad interessarsi dell'artista suggerendogli di affrontare il tema delle nature morte.
E' qui che inizia la lunga e ancora non completa ricerca sui vari aspetti della natura, catturando particolari sempre più dettagliati e quasi invisibili ad "occhi bombardati da milioni di immagini" quali sono quelli degli uomini della nostra epoca.

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Born in Rome, Luciano Ventrone attended Liceo Artistico in Rome. After graduation in 1946 he started studying Architecture. In 1968 he left the University and focused on painting.

Even though Luciano Ventrone is internationally recognized as one of the master realist painters of his generation, he believes that his works are really about optics:
"Painting is not about the mere representation of an object, but its color and light", he says.
"The subject cannot be seen as it is but as an abstract element".
Ventrone studied at Rome's Liceo Artistico and - in spite of experimenting with avant-garde methods - garnered attention for his academic realism and attention to anatomical detail; his life drawings would be published in a university textbook on human anatomy.

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Ventrone's paintings still frequently feature figures, as well as carefully arranged still lifes. For each of his works, Ventrone carefully stages his subject under bright studio lights, and photographs the arrangement for painting reference.

Luciano Ventrone's paintings "invite a mood of pure contemplation" from the viewer; they are works of masterful skill and supreme aesthetic beauty.
Though he admits sharing a strong affinity for the work of Caravaggio, Ventrone does not consider himself a realist painter in the traditional sense.

He paints real objects but, because of his utilisation of certain contemporary techniques as part of the artistic process, the objects depicted are transported into a metaphysical, hyper-real context.
What we see in a Ventrone painting is not "real" because it is not what we would see were we to look with the naked eye - We see more. Ventrone shows us things more fully and more clearly than they appear to us in reality; everything is in focus, everything can be scrutinised.
He allows us to notice every blemish and admire every curve of flesh in a piece of fruit or on a naked female form.
Set against monochromatic backgrounds of white, grey or black, the subject is lit from multiple angles, allowing for a full and objective appraisal of what we behold.
Thus, what Ventrone shows us is, in his own words, a "Mondo Parallelo" or "Parallel World"; a Universe that shares the same starting point but a different system of evo.

The Italian painter Luciano Ventrone died at the age of 79, on April 16th 2021 in his house in Collelongo - Aquila, Italia.

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter

Luciano Ventrone 1942 | Italian Hiperrealist painter