Orazio De Gennaro (b. Benevento, 1957) began his artistic career in Italy as a sculptor. When he moved to New York in 1983, he transitioned to painting, but the importance of a tangible physicality remained central in his art. De Gennaro creates his oil pastels with wax, marble dust, and pigments, applying them on a thick impasto of lime and sand to achieve a texture at once tactile and sensuous that has the tangible presence of a sculptural piece. Among his most notable works is a monumental 27-foot abstract landscape he created for the lobby of the landmark Knickerbocker Hotel in Manhattan. He is based in Brooklyn, NY.
De Gennaro uses the colors and sensations of his childhood around the bay of Naples to express himself in lyrically abstract shapes on the canvas. One feels that they have stumbled upon a fresco in a long-forgotten cave — with the sea and surrounding volcanic greenery common to Campania at their backs — when looking at his work. It is not by chance that De Gennaro also paints fresco on commission in the New York area. He uses sand, earth, and hay in his impasto to make viewers feel, when staring at a yellow in one of his paintings, for example, that they stand in a wheat field bathed by golden summer light. De Gennaro’s paintings also have a mysterious aura. His color palette is deeply reminiscent of Ancient Roman art, and It is by no chance that the region of Naples hosts the Villa of Mysteries; these ancient roots nourish De Gennaro’s work.
The elements of my land - the light, texture, shadows, color and the actual materials themselves - earth pigments, lime, marble dust - have formed the essence of an "inner landscape" and have become a reference point for my work.
