104GALERIE (Ikejiri-Ohashi, Tokyo) is holding a solo exhibition called “Paintings” of the Italian artist Robert Bosisio opening Friday23rd March 2018.

Robert Bosisio was born in Trodena, North Italy in 1963. After graduating from The Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he continued to study art in Berlin, New York, and London. Currently he works in Trodena, Italy; Cluj-Napoca, Romania; and Berlin, Germany.
He has held solo exhibitions in different places like the Museum Art Center Hugo Voeten in Antwerpen (Belgium, 2014),Galleria Doris Ghetta (Italy, 2013) and Museul de Artă – Art Museum Cluj-Napoca (Romania, 2010), as well as in Austria, Germany,Switzerland and the United States. He has won many awards, and is highly acclaimed worldwide.

This exhibition is the first solo show for Bosisio in Japan, and will consist of new portrait works from recent years, and also selectedpieces from the series “interiors” which he has carried out for many years. The work will be shown in 104GALERIE and 104GALERIE-R.

Is a painting by Robert Bosisio abstract or figurative? The reason a viewer might ask such a question is that through differences in the distance from which you view the work, and the light and shadow on it, you can witness a change in the representation effected by the environment. A work may seem like a vague abstract painting from close up, but if you step back and gaze at the
whole piece, the outline of an image with a certain presence appears.
This effect, unique to the work of Bosisio, is created by the complex textural layers of oil, tempera, ash, sand, wax and plaster that he uses to paint. His deep thoughts are reflected in the production process as well. Sometimes his techniques of painting landscapes and portraits seem classical, but from them he negotiates with his own abstractness, pursuing his own territory. In that tension a beauty is born and, as the greatest fascination of his art, draws viewers in.
As a close friend and supporter of Bosisio, film director Wim Wenders has published several poems and texts dedicated to him.These texts are filled with his deep insight and emotion towards Bosisio’s art.

Seeing is Believing…

by Wim Wenders

…
Like for Vermeer,
seeing is not only Robert’ s greatest pleasure,
and a sacred act;
it is also the very subject of his art.
(And not only when he is painting an eye…)
When you stand in front of his canvasses
he makes you see and recognize (again)
that painting can still transcend the surface of things
and reach their quintessence,
even in the 21st century.
He makes us believe (again)
that we’ re not just surrounded with stuff
but with real objects that have a spirit.
…
(from “Seeing is Believing…” , 2010)