My Bittersweet Lysergic Dream

Gabriele Scanziani is a contemporary Swiss and Italian painter. A self-taught artist who possesses a strongly personal work with a dreamlike influence and childish reminiscences. Scanziani’s painting is characterized by the presence of figures with macrocephalus and filiform extremities, creating surreal scenes and a world of unusual characters that despite their drama and deformity, show tenderness and kindness. We can observe in his work the studies of the figure of the protagonists, with a focus on the countenance and the way few features can portray a strong force of expression. The figures are mostly settled on a neutral, light blue, orange or dark background and in each scene, there is no line that cuts the vertical plane of the background with the horizontal plane, focusing the attention of the viewer mainly on the characters. “I am interested in observing how something we see might transform itself after we get a closer look at its features. I try to follow the same principle, using details to push the viewer to perceive the work of art from different perspectives.” Born in Mendrisio, Switzerland in 1980, he is the son of a writer and a teacher. His father, who was 72 years old when he was born, started suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease when the artist was 14 years old and died 8 years later. He was chosen among the selected artists of the Thomson Art Prize in 2021 and his works will be exhibited through Europe and the US during the year 2022. His paintings are present through several private collections between Switzerland, Italy and France.