Mario Bocchini - Southern Land

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 research into space, through Brunelleschi's perspective in the early Renaissance; then with atmospheric rendering in the sixteenth century; up until the depiction of every single vibration of light on objects in Impressionism. The artist Mario Bocchini stands out for his highly original landscape production, where his profoundly existentialist poetics is evident in his choice of subjects: shipwrecks, debris, suburbs, and shattered boats are the most recurring themes in his paintings.

The work is a clear example of an expressionist and abstract landscape. Nature is interpreted in an extremely synthetic manner, with an exercise in reduction that could almost be described as brutal, were it not for the fact that everything in Mario Bocchini's painting takes on an ethereal and weightless quality. The surface is completely two-dimensional, with no concessions to spatial depth. The brushstrokes delineate the landscape elements through seamlessly overlapping transparent layers. Color is used with a decidedly emotional and spiritual interpretation, detached from reality. The work is therefore highly significant for Mario Bocchini's conception of landscape painting. For this painter of the Cesena school, nature takes on a fully existential aspect, transfigured by his expressionist, abstract, and minimal pictorial gesture.

Mario Bocchini was a painter from Cesena, born in 1927 and died in 1999. After briefly attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna, Mario Bocchini devoted himself to life studies, favoring themes drawn from the popular and rural world of Romagna. In 1956, he joined the Neorealist group in Cesena led by Alberto Sughi and Giovanni Cappelli, and in Bologna he looked up to Aldo Borgonzoni. In 1960, he moved to Milan, where he studied under Mario Sironi, who must have contributed significantly to the dark, almost tragic, expressions of existential unease that characterize Bocchini's early mature works. His artistic language subsequently evolved into abstract-expressionist syntheses, which were exhibited in Israel, Yugoslavia, New York, Uruguay, Moscow, and many Italian cities. Mario Bocchini received numerous awards throughout his career and also participated in the Valbruna Prize.

The transaction takes place with maximum security for both the seller and the buyer. We take care of the conformity (provenance, authenticity, state of conservation) of the work and handle the shipping.
Returns are possible no later than 14 days after receiving the order.