Marco Pariani
(Born 1986)
Marco Pariani was born in Busto Arsizio, Italy, in 1986. The son of a woodworker, Pariani’s earliest memories are of his time in his father’s studio. These moments spent sanding and gluing wood manifested into a love of working with his hands, informing the physical process of painting for which he is now known. 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.
Resting in the center on top of this ground typically resides an abstracted image that often draws inspiration from screenshots of found online images—everything from silly photos of dressed-up dogs to Christmas decorations. Rendered in frenetically calligraphic strokes, one can just barely make out the original motif, revealing the strangeness and absurdity of his source images in the process of their deconstruction. By contrast to the ground, these amorphous images are quickly applied with spray paint. The disparity in the tempo of creating the background and foreground results in a sense of rush and adrenaline reminiscent of graffiti. He began experimenting with spray paint as a medium as early as his time at university, but its use is greatly informed by his move to New York in 2019. Indeed, the present-day graffiti-laden box trucks that line the city’s streets have been a continued source of inspiration for the artist.
Recent solo exhibitions include Painting Bakery, Skarstedt, London (2024); Landscaping, Skarstedt, Paris (2023); Inflatables, Skarstedt, London (2022); Trees and Traditions, Cheim & Read Gallery, New York (2022); Screenshot, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen (2021); Marco Pariani, Cheim Reid, New York (2021); Marco Pariani, The Journal Gallery, New York (2021); Italian Summer, Deli Grocery gallery, Brooklyn (2020); Marco Pariani, The Journal Gallery, New York (2020); Vegan Racism, Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva (2018); Pet Stroller, Achenbach Hagemeier Gallery (2018); and Same Side of the Bed, the Diogenes Club Gallery, Los Angeles (2017).
