Annamaria Gagliardi

"Graceful and ethereal or generously curvaceous female figures, lying down in calm or turbulent playful waters, inhabit Gagliardi’s paintings. If you carefully observe, you will notice the strange nature of these inhabitants; their defined outlines, their colours and shades stolen from the natural elements, the refusal of volumes that forces them to stay within the board, all these elements reveal some relationship with the oriental naturalism, which refuses to give any prominence to this or that part of the painting, making the artwork as a whole the subject of itself. The subject of the painting it is not the human figure only, but it’s her along with the foams, the playful splashes, the bright clouds and the water reflections. In one word, the subject of the painting is the whole nature, a nature that has taken human form in order to show more clearly its philanthropic inclination. Painting, after regaining its spiritual foundation, has become the instrument and primary place of this revelation. It is able to manifest nature and its admonishment to redemption because it has been granted to do so, just as if painting had the supernatural ability to overcome reality and grasp its soul."

Francesco Revel