Gaetano Pompa - Night Litany in Venice

Surrealist aesthetics emerged around the 1920s and encompassed all fields of artistic research. Specifically, in the visual arts, Surrealism sought to explore the human subconscious and translate it into artwork through a mechanical writing process based on dream analysis. Consequently, Surrealist artworks propose the representation of a dreamlike dimension, completely dissociated from reality. However, this representation often relies on a hyperrealistic formal rendering, precisely to paradoxically accentuate the illusory and ambiguous nature of the surreal dimension. The entire oeuvre of artist Gaetano Pompa is distinguished by the creation of visionary scenes and imaginary creatures. In this work, the artist offers a superb reinterpretation of the Lion of St. Mark, the symbol of the city of Venice.

Specializing in the invention of imaginary creatures, straight from medieval bestiaries, Gaetano Pompa's reimagining of the Lion of Saint Mark, an already fantastical animal, pushes his extremely creative nature to a new level. The result, as always in this artist's work, is exceptional, rich in detail and nuance, making it a one-of-a-kind piece. This exceptional quality stems from Pompa's usual blend of visionary and citational influences, combined with a distinctive contemporary sensibility. In this case, it is precisely this sensibility that leads the artist to a geometric reconstruction of the lion. The artist's style, however, remains unchanged, always conveying a patina of antiquity, as if his images had emerged from a fifteenth- or sixteenth-century volume. Pompa's technique plays an absolutely fundamental role in all of this, even in his engraving. Everything is crafted with obsessive attention to detail (as is typical of the Surrealist tradition), but with a spirit that draws, more specifically, on the art of illustration.

Born in Forenza in 1933, Gaetano Pompa is considered one of the most original and versatile contemporary artists. Throughout his career, he experimented with all techniques, from painting to ceramics, from graphics to sculpture, without being primarily a sculptor, painter, or engraver. From 1958 to 1961, he lived in Munich, where he pursued an intense artistic career. Returning to Rome, from 1970 onwards, he resided in Ansedonia, in the municipality of Orbetello. His exhibition activity, following a solo show at the Galleria dell'Obelisco in Rome, continued with shows in Munich, Düsseldorf, New York, Chicago, Naples, Hamburg, Venice, Milan, and Cologne. National and international exhibitions include the Rome Quadrennial, the Paris Biennial, the Krakow Biennial of Graphics, and the International Biennial for Bronze Sculpture in Padua. In 1977, on the occasion of the birthday of Paul VI, he created the Saint Paul statue for the Vatican Museums. His works are found in the Museums of Modern Art of Genoa, New York, Indianapolis, Toronto.

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