Oggi, all’improvviso, sono giunto a una sensazione assurda e giusta.
Ho capito, in una folgorazione intima, di non essere nessuno. Nessuno, assolutamente nessuno.
[…]
Sono la periferia di una città inesistente, il commento prolisso a un libro non scritto. Non sono nessuno, nessuno. Non so sentire, non so pensare, non so volere. Sono una figura di un romanzo da scrivere che passa aerea ed evanescente senza essere esistita, fra i sogni di chi non mi ha saputo completare.
F. Pessoa, [Livro do desassossego, 1913-1935], Il libro dell'Inquietudine di Bernardo Soares, Newton Compton Editori, 2006, [trad. P. Ceccucci, O. Abbati]
The painting is representative of the introspective and conservative mood in Europe during the period between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the revolutions of 1848, but at the same time pokes fun at those attitudes by embodying them in the fusty old scholar unconcerned with the affairs of the mundane world.
The picture shows an untidily dressed elderly bibliophile standing on top of a library ladder with several large volumes jammed under his arms and between his legs as he peers short-sightedly at a book. Unaware of his apparently princely or abbatial Baroque surroundings, he is totally absorbed in his researches. A handkerchief, carelessly replaced, trails from his pocket. His black knee-breeches suggest a courtly status. The intensity with which he stares at his book in the dusty old once-glorious library with its frescoed ceiling mirrors the inward-looking attitudes and return to conservative values that affected Europe during the period. The painting was executed two years after the revolutions of 1848 provided a shock to the stable world embodied in the dusty solitude of the library. In the lower left corner of the painting an old faded globe can be seen; the bookworm is not interested in the outside world, but in the knowledge of the past. He is illuminated with the soft golden light that is a hallmark of Spitzweg's work, but the scholar's interest in the light streaming from the unseen window extends only so far as it allows him to see the words on the pages of his old books. The height of the library ladder can only be estimated: the globe suggests a possible floor height, but none of the floor is visible, heightening the sense of precariousness of the oblivious scholar's position. Equally the size of the library is unknown; the old man is consulting books from the section of "Metaphysics" (Metaphysik)—indicated by the plaque on the highly ornamented bookcase—which both suggests a vast library and underlines the otherworldliness of the book lover.
Transcendence (walking down stairs)
12x12”, acrylic and stickers on canvas, 2023
I’ve been reworking this painting for YEARS and it is finally finished! I started it in like 2017 or 2018. The idea is based off Duchamp’s Nu descendant un escalier n° 2 (Nude Descending a Staircase No 2), which is believed to be a self-portrait. Mine is also a self-portrait!
This painting serves as a testament to the resilience and boundless possibilities that exist within the realm of self-expression. Looking at beauty and visibility, it celebrates the kaleidoscope of identities, and the transformative power of embracing one's true self.
Happy Pride Month y’all!!
I am grateful to be showing this piece 2358 MRKT in Joseph Abbati's show this Friday. Stop by and see his wonderful paintings + the paintings of many other talented queer artists!