Mario Logli - Boat Wreck

Landscape has always been a central theme in artistic research, both as a setting, as a backdrop, and as a subject itself. The naturalistic depiction of landscape has been a major aspiration for artists of every era. Each historical period has offered its own interpretation of landscape, contributing to the evolution of its depiction: first with an exploration of space, through Brunelleschi's perspective in the early Renaissance; then with atmospheric rendering in the sixteenth century; and finally with the depiction of every single vibration of light on objects in Impressionism. In the case of this print, one might speak, as often happens in Mario Logli's work, of a metaphysical landscape, as the plausible, yet entirely unexpected, presence of the wreck shifts this view into a mysterious dimension of expectation and suspension.

The metaphysical atmosphere of this work rests, formally, on the use of hyperrealist language, a hallmark of Mario Logli's artistic practice. Hyperrealism aims for a completely objective representation of reality: the artist's desire is to reproduce what he sees without any interpretation. In this sense, the hyperrealist aesthetic also constitutes a paradox, often consciously sought by artists. Indeed, thanks in part to the use of highly aggressive techniques, inspired by the world of advertising, and the use of bright color palettes, a rendering of naturalistic detail is achieved that is so pure as to appear illusory, deliberately artificial.

Mario Logli was born in 1933 in Urbino, where he attended the Institute of Fine Arts and the Teacher Training School, learning various graphic and engraving techniques and later specializing in lithography. In 1955, the opportunity arose in the big city when Garzanti Publishing House commissioned him to illustrate a series of classic texts. He then settled in Milan, where he worked not only as an editorial illustrator but also as a collaborator with Ezio Frigerio for the Piccolo Teatro, designing costumes and creating sets. From 1964, he was head of illustration at De Agostini Publishing House. He won the "Premio Lombardia" and the "Arte Fantastica" prize in Stuttgart. After being invited to the "Festival dei Due Mondi" in Spoleto, he was also invited in 1987 to present his themes in the most prestigious capitals of Europe and the Americas with a major solo exhibition dedicated to the places associated with Leopardi's poetry. Invited, he then participated in the European Art in Japan exhibition at the Laforet Museum in Tokyo. Mario Logli passed away in Urbino in 2020.

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