Besides the appeal of the enigmatic, a certain aesthetic, whether it be in color use, composition or craftsmanship, helps me a great deal to open up to a piece of art. However, beauty alone doesn’t do it for me, it has to have a counterpart, and that’s what I appreciate in the work of Italian painter Sergio Sarri. He pull’s me in with his soft, candy like almost commercial use of color and simultaneously shows me a disturbing view of the future to come. I get a sense of urgency from the attention to detail and the precision with which his world is visualized and although you could perceive it as a harsh world, for me it shows emotion and great commitment. Sarri uses the machine as a way to illustrate the friction between man and the outer world of social institutions and existential ethics. For him, as he states in the book, the depiction of the machine is the most representative way to express the sense of anguish aroused in him. The human figures almost dissolve in the machines, a feeling I can still relate to today. And these paintings were made in the early seventies of the previous century!

This was my last post for the artist blog. Der Greif, thank you, it was a great opportunity to dive into the books and work of great artists once again. I even learned something new about my own work and fascinations in the process. It turns out I seem to have a thing for the seventies… I hope you’ve enjoyed it and I’ve inspired you to run to your nearby bookstore.