Exhibition of mixed media works from the 1980s by Silvio Merlino opens at Nohra Haime Gallery
Silvio Merlino, La Stanza Delle Lucciole, 1991, mixed media on canvas, 74 3/4 x 114 in. 190 x 289.5 cm.
NEW YORK, NY
.- Beings of Light is an exhibition of mixed media works from the 1980s by Italian artist Silvio Merlino, on view from May 12 through June 12. Merlinos works have been shown internationally, most notably at the Venice Biennale, Nohra Haime Gallery, and throughout Europe.
Inspired by Italian landscapes, Italian artist Silvio Merlino creates magical environments where the power of nature collides with mans struggle to control it. Through his work we enter day-glo fantasies of a universe where beauty, elegance and grace are created through phantasmagorical collages utilizing fake fur, flippers, corals, glass candy and grated glass that shimmers.
In the 1920s, Paris was an art market center.
Dealers on the Left Bank were known for nurturing adventurous new talent, with Léonce Roseberg showing Georges Braque and Fernand Léger, while Paul Guillaume was promoting Derain and Matisse. Meanwhile, the city’s secondary art market, led by the Hôtel Drouot auction house and dealers including Nathan Wildenstein, and Ernest and René Gimpel, was a world leader during the interwar years. But the outbreak of World War II prompted an exodus of leading dealers to New York, and the French scene was shortly eclipsed. Many cite Robert Rauschenberg’s Golden Lion win at the 1964 Venice Biennale as the final seal of US ascendance over the French art scene.