PORTFOLIO 2019
Angela Galvan
Painter & Writer
landscapes
Landscapes are devoid of life, and even if they are clearly human creations, nobody seems able to stay in these places.
portraits
Faces are never completed. People move their heads away, hide, fade in the dark, and show a calm desperation that corresponds to the void of the landscapes.
On the other hand, models are captured in an iper-realistic and precise way that makes it feel like they are real.
details and gestures
The cure for details is fundamental, everything is painted with tiny brushes in a realistic way. On the other hand, the brutal gestures are the expression of a momentary emotion, impossible to foresee. Portraits of friends, lovers and the self are treated in the same way, as an elaboration of relationships, usually destined to fall apart.
broken portraits
Painters have always felt the need to destroy their works, the power of creation corresponds with the impulse of destruction.
non-finito
The other side of the ruined portrait is the “non-finito”, where the phases of the elaboration are shown. Only the models still hide themselves.
solitary vices
People are lonely and unable to communicate, flesh is weak and constantly looking for a way to escape misery. A series of paintings describes the solitary vices: alcohol, smoking, masturbation – attempts to fill the void with pleasure, that unfortunately don’t guarantee happiness.
erotic paintings
Eroticism is another way to show the loneliness of human beings. People are alone with their flesh, and they can’t communicate their desire. The intent is not to scandalise: masturbation is seen as a metaphor of frustration and solitude.
kitsch
When they’re not confined within their loneliness, people express feelings with extreme and pathetic gestures. They are young, feminine, naked, beautiful and desperate, and not afraid of showing it. This, combined with the fascination for a photo-realistic romantic style, may be seen as kitsch; but following the example of Odd Nerdrum: kitsch is „all that was conceived as brown, old-fashioned, sentimental, melodramatic and pathetic. As the Austrian author and philosopher Herman Broch put it in the 1930’s: «Kitsch is the Anti-Christ, stagnation and death»”
series
Her paintings and drawings often follow a pattern or a story
