Alessandro Fogo was born in Thiene, Italy, and now lives and works in San Benedetto del Tronto. He studied painting in Italy, Belgium, and UK. His current solo exhibition at Lyles & King, titled Distopica is on view through June 21.

The ten works on view glowed in the darkened space of the gallery when I visited on a rainy June afternoon. Yet, one work in particular draws attention. Eclisse di uno buco negro, 2024-25 could be translated as 'Eclipse of a black hole'. An enigmatic title for an enigmatic painting. Fogo has deepened his method for this exhibition, creating spiritual and highly symbolic inner landscapes that often have references to European art history, clearly internalized and absorbed through study and observation. Yet, this painting stands out because it summarizes the spiritual search embodied in the works on view. Some of the paintings are dark and wistful, yet subtle and precise in their melancholy. Some portrayed entities have a disembodied presence, not as much demonic as lost.

Here, a long and slender figure is prostrated on the ground, with fine feminine features passively raising a head of bronze hair. A shadowy substance calls to her. Do we see a somnambule or a soul rising from a body? Remembering the New Testament, one can see that a soul can be called upon by a black entity, either benevolent or destructive. The shadow presence of this entity changes the air inside the canvas and in the gallery, transcending the word-forms. Fogo gives us an observation of a mystery transcending the time and circumstance of either the Lower East Side or Marche, where the painter currently resides. This matrix of behavior underlines Fogo’s enigmatic presence among his contemporaries. Rather than continuing the painful and menacing entropy of Nichola Samori, Fogo treats his subjects by abstracting the substance of the classical tradition and merging this substance with the findings of Paul Gaugin, Constatine Brancusi, and Edvard Munch. We end up with an image that brings the tristesse of passing and yet the hope of a new; connecting us to the rituals of leave-takings and returns.

by Nina Chkareuli-Mdivani