Consulate General of Italy in New York
690 Park Avenue, New York NY 10065

“Unconscious Mind”: matter and primordial figures in the visionary world of Verdiana Patacchini (Virdi)

Curated by Roberta Buldini

“…My work range from painting to sculptures. Departing each piece as a platform for continuous research of materials transforming visual perceptions and poetry into painting and sculptures. My subject are amorphous representation of the human figure with even classical references; it is through a complex investigation of the quality of colors and a diverse exploration of materials that I reveal my images.
My work is obsessed by research and by the process; I feel I am in a fight between my intimacy and the constant necessity to find new solutions…” (Virdi)

The artist transforms the perception of her own reality in pictorial images, through a mixed technique, attentive to the quality of the sign, the color and material, which does not just represent things for what they are, but evokes visions, "absolutes ", as the artist herself, Verdiana calls them.

The material experiments highlight the use of diverse techniques, consisting of very personal processing, where the colors meet different materials, often far from those commonly used, such as paper, iron, nails, steel and the corrosive acids, instead of tempera or oils. Each work becomes a platform for the continuing search for materials through which visual perceptions are transformed into painting.

On surfaces impressive, stand primordial material figures, as if they were part of a world where man and nature live in harmony, without conflicts. The amorphous representation of the human figure is influenced by classical references, but it is not a faithful reproduction of reality, does not ennoble or enhances the beauty of the subjects. There is no idealization, only some parts of the faces are outlined.

The artist shapes the world through her eyes and her mind, contributing to '"existence" of the subjects represented, which remain suspended in limbo between the principle of' visual action and the unconscious, between the unknown and the known, between the visible and invisible.

One senses a deep research, careful existential and sensory exploration marked by symbols and images in her works that represent the state of dream and have deep passion and the desire to reveal the path-the inner journey of Verdiana.

Verdiana Patacchini was born in Orvieto in 1984. After graduating from the Art School of Viterbo, in 2002 she moved to Rome to attend the Academy of Fine Arts. In recent years lives between Italy and the United States exhibiting her works.
In 2011 participated in the 54th Venice Biennale in the Italian Pavilion and in 2012 she won the Catel Prize with the opera "La Veronica". Since January 2016 she was awarded a residency in New York, at Mana Contemporary. Currently, she lives in New York and signs her paintings with the pseudonym Virdi.