In order to depict the practice of these two British artists - since long time relevant players in the life of the gallery - the exhibition will juxtapose two spaces.

Keith Tyson present for the first time in Italy his new series of Natural Portrait, mixed media on aluminium, the single results of a combination of forces at work.

Hugo Wilson to whom the work of Keith Tyson has always been a source of inspiration will showcase four oil panels were historical references dissolve in the stroke of a brush and two terracotta sculptures.

De Pictura

De Pictura is the firsts art treatise written in Latin by Italian architect and art theorist Leon Battista Alberti. He was the first post-classical writer to produce a work on art theory, as opposed to works about the function of religious art or art techniques.

Both of the artists have deconstructed painting in the way that is described in the book to achieve meaning questioning what it is to place meaning on something created out of these things

Keith Tyson and Hugo Wilson convey philosophical, scientific meanings, historical and sociological references through very different techniques resulting in what we can define figurative art where nature, subjects and references blend into something familiar but not quite recognizable.

The exhibition will show case a body work were a sort of aesthetic game handed down through many generations: Keith Tyson by removing himself from the painting process all together, and Hugo Wilson by going full force into it, both quite extreme ends of the spectrum.

Keith Tyson: unnatural Portrait

Keith Tyson’s Unnatural Portraits are a combination of two types of process.

Firstly The Nature Paintings - which utilize chemical processes and the laws of physics so that what happens on the surface is out of the artist’s control…

“I place the pigment of course, but it all moves so dramatically accordingly to these laws so there is little control over the outcome, instead this idea of an unpredictable beauty emerging from simple process. If, as is often the case, the results are reminiscent of forms in nature, such as clouds, cells and river deltas then it is only because the same laws that made these forms make the paintings ” - Keith Tyson

In these works the nature painting process is now applied over oil paintings based on old yearbook photographs. The subjects have just graduated and are about to step out into the word and become members of their societies, their contribution yet to be defined. The idea of an identity being formed, from both the physical and social, from biological evolution over millions of years, through DNA, their environment, the social structure and economic structure and education are all layers of differences implied in the portrait.

“I like the fact that you (the viewer) finds themselves in front of a portrait frozen in a particular state. All portraits depict a moment that has passed but these paintings are disrupted and layered with other processes. They represent intersecting points on different curves, The Unnatural Portrait friezes the flow. Making explicit the dynamic flux that is the true nature of being human“ - Keith Tyson

Hugo Wilson

Hugo Wilson practice also relate to the fact of not being able to grasp a sense of self investigating the human need for ideologies, regardless of the specific ideals.

The works exhibited are a continued deconstruction of systems of ideologies. The processes, by which the structures of power - sometime religious or political - are established and reinforced, fascinate him.

"Wilson is exploring and attempting to understand the structures—biological, cultural, historical and philosophical that underlay human life. And from that position, to address the ways in which culture takes the raw stuff of existence and uses it to generate meaning." - Ben Tufnell

The sculptures are mix of references from the last two thousand years, thrown together. The terracotta is clean, white so as not to detract with any more reference than the forms within it making sure that no existing denominative symbols are visible. The works are left in their rough, post fired state, so the line of mud (clay) to human decision(sculpting) to idol(sculpture) is as clear as possible "

The three paintings "Chaos Monkeys 1 and 2" and "Weenix Wings" are a strange take on the triptych format. "Weenix Wings" is a collage of white wings taken from the usually dark still lives of the Dutch painter Jan Weenix.

The Final painting "trophy" depicts a seemingly known format of the hunt work, but on close inspection, there is no hunter. The idea of what can and does constitute an accepted "trophy" whether in a religious, pastoral or even digital context is interesting, particularly when going back to the previous works, which include wings that may invoke peace or angels, but have actually been taken from 17th c paintings of piles of dead animals.