Rolando Anselmi is thrilled to announce Actual Notes, presenting nine international artists whose practices redefine the possibilities of contemporary painting. Spanning varied subject matter and distinctive techniques, the exhibition reflects the richness and versatility of the medium today, expanding the conventional debate surrounding the role and definition of painting in contemporary art. This exhibition will feature works by Marco Bizzarri (b. 1988, CL), Danielle Fretwell (b.1996, USA), Gregor Gleiwitz (b. 1977, PL), Diego Kohli (b. 1991, ES), JJ Manford (b. 1983, USA), Julien Des Monstiers (b. 1983, FR), Norberto Spina (b.1995, ITA), Alina Vergnano (b. 1989, ITA), Ryota Watanabe (b. 1998, JPN).
The exhibition starts with Gregor Gleiwitz, whose work explores visual metamorphosis, perception, and the uncanny through shifting forms that oscillate between figuration and abstraction. The title 22.01.2025 refers to the date of completion, marking a specific moment within an ongoing process of creation that captures fragments of reality as they unfold in time. Ryota Watanabe’s practice unfolds as an act of creative destruction. In星屑(Stella) and Rain the gestures of painting and vandalism merge as the artist scrapes away layers of paint with self-made tools, revealing alternative pictorial spaces that resist logic and computation. Diego Kohli constructs dreamlike scenes in which bodies and forms appear staged within theatrical and often enigmatic settings. Rooted in psychoanalysis and everyday experience, Homestory XIII opens a space for reflection and subjective interpretation. JJ Manford’s affinity for surrealism and bold colour unfolds through dreamlike yet harmonious, intricately furnished interiors. Though absent of inhabitants, traces of life, vibrant textiles, a flickering fireplace, and the reproduction of a Matisse masterpiece, invite viewers to imagine the personalities that might inhabit these spaces.
Descending to the lower floor, Brief Abundance, a still life by Danielle Fretwell, draws on the visual language of 17th-century painting while reflecting on the complexities of the digital age. Central to her work are “veils,” visual obstructions that address how information is filtered and mediated in contemporary culture, inviting viewers to question what lies beneath the surface. Julien Des Monstiers’Tapis is produced through an innovative transfer-based oil painting technique. Drawing
on tapestry-like ornamental motifs and geometrical forms, the work introduces layered depth and texture while establishing a dialogue between historical craft traditions and contemporary painting. Marco Bizzarri translates his photographic encounters with the Atacama Desert into technically complex and carefully constructed paintings. In Umbral I, Umbral II, and Proyección, the desert becomes a site of constant transformation: dust functions as a metaphor for persistence, while the canvases adopt its logic of accumulation, suspension, and slow change. In Alina Vergnano’slarge- scale canvas, the figure organically dissolves into abstraction. In Touching on Sense (I), interwoven lines shift from references to the rational and the bodily toward a more intuitive emphasis on gesture and sensation. The exhibition concludes with Testa di Cavallo and Redini by Norberto Spina, works that explore the tension between historical and contemporary references. Drawing on archival imagery, Spina translates fragments of personal and collective iconography onto canvas through incisive brushwork in oil, acrylic, and marker.
