Franco Onali - The Escape

The work is an abstract composition. "Abstract" derives from the Latin term "abstrahere," meaning to extract or draw out. The process of abstraction, in fact, consists of eliminating the particular and individual aspects of an object to derive a universal concept. From Kandinsky to Mondrian, from Pollock to Mirò, many painters have pushed the process of abstraction to the limit in their works, paradoxically creating pure forms and colors that do not exist in nature, or translating their emotions and instincts into images. The vast pictorial production of Franco Onali, one of the most important and established contemporary artists, is a profound investigation of reality, but also of the perception of reality itself, which has led him from figurative expressions to the pure abstraction we find in a work like the one presented here.

Franco Onali's path toward abstraction coincides with the concreteness of a profound analysis that doesn't stop at the limits imposed by sensory data. References to reality or narrative may be more or less present, but they are inserted into a multidimensional space, constructed along multiple lines, which Onali masters. What is also exceptional is that even in these more conceptual works, the artist consistently maintains, formally, a close attention to the materiality of existence. Indeed, the pictorial layering remains vibrant; the volumes, though related to a rigorous geometry, cannot help but react, eroding, to the vital light that invades the space of this painter's works. These principles remain unchanged throughout Franco Onali's pictorial research, even when the artist abandons all contact with the phenomenon to enter the absolute concreteness of pure sensibility. And so perceived and imagined reality merge into a perfect composition of lines, shapes, and colors, still warmed by that intense, pulsating vitality inherent in Franco Onali's work.

Franco Onali (Rome 1932) studied painting at the Academies of Fine Arts in Rome and Florence, under Cipriano Oppo, Marcello Avenali, Ugo Capocchini, and Mario Mafai. He attended the studios of Marino Mazzacurati and Roberto Melli, and in Stockholm he worked as a designer in the studio of architect Tham. He collaborated with Mario Marenco from a very young age, a collaboration that led him to design decorations for the Lanspar Bank in Stockholm, for the Italian Trade Agency (ICE), for the Italian Agricultural Pavilions in Algiers, for L'Alimentazione in Cologne, and for Lancia in Bologna. He collaborated with the Swedish weeklies Fib and Svenska, and for RAI, creating sets for Renzo Arbore's programs on Rai-Uno. He designed furniture for the companies Miù, Uving, Cyrus, Company, Le Favero, Linea Uno, and Matteo Grassi. He lived in Saudi Arabia for an extended period to decorate the interiors of private residences and hotels in Jeddah. He has exhibited his works in Bologna, Lugano, Stockholm, Rome, New York, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Buenos Aires, and participated in the “Oro d'Autore” exhibitions in 1988 and 1992, confirming the extraordinary bond he has with the city of Arezzo, his creative refuge since forever.

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