Demigods

Enzo Marra, Francis Bacon (detail)

WW presents Demigods by Enzo Marra 22 April – 8 May. His painterly work is characterised by elements of history, mythology, surrealism and metamorphosis. His new Demigods series is a tribute to some of the artists who have inspired him, Marra’s own personal heroes and heroines, rendered as deified mortals.

Marra is an artist in his studio, painting artists at work in their studios, each depicted in a manner that conjures up our collective romantic vision of the artist toiling away in a cosy bohemian garret. Subjects from Francis Bacon to Gilbert & George and Jackson Pollock to Cornelia Parker, are all handled in the same thick impasto and tonal palette of blacks, greys and whites.

Marra’s paintings have a nostalgic, reverential quality and surfaces that are laid bare for the comparisons that are there to be drawn. Stylistically, Demigods encompasses an array of influences, from the almost calligraphic language of Giacometti to the abstract textural works of Zebedee Jones, and while Marra is to some extent a throwback to the gestural figuration of Auerbach, Kossoff and the School of London, he is no mere imitator.

In recording the apotheosis of these artists, Marra’s subject matter reinvents a tradition of artists portraying one and other, a genre made famous by Gaugin and Van Gogh during their tempestuous time in Arles and by the Bloomsbury Group, who painted and recorded each other from youth to old age.

Enzo Marra’s works on paper will be shown at this year’s Venice Biennale at WW Gallery’s collateral exhibition ‘Afternoon Tea’ 30 May – 12 June. Marra (b. 1975) has had numerous commissions and exhibitions, including selection for exhibition in the Threadneedle Prize 2010 and the 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009.

WW Gallery
30 Queensdown Road
E5 8NN
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