In this work from the Terra Bruciata (Scorched Earth) series, Orazio De Gennaro captures the fragile equilibrium between destruction and renewal. The composition unfolds in dark, ashen grays and deep crimsons, gradually rising into a luminous expanse of white that seems to breathe light. The surface, built from lime, marble dust, pigment, and sand, bears the scars of heat and time—its cracks, burns, and accretions resembling the crust of the earth after volcanic eruption.
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In this work from the Terra Bruciata (Scorched Earth) series, Orazio De Gennaro captures the fragile equilibrium between destruction and renewal. The composition unfolds in dark, ashen grays and deep crimsons, gradually rising into a luminous expanse of white that seems to breathe light. The surface, built from lime, marble dust, pigment, and sand, bears the scars of heat and time—its cracks, burns, and accretions resembling the crust of the earth after volcanic eruption.
As with all of De Gennaro’s Terra Bruciata works, this painting embodies a dialogue with the Informale movement, in which matter itself becomes the central expressive force. Yet his sensibility is distinct: where Burri’s combustions feel raw and confrontational, De Gennaro’s are meditative, inflected with the warmth and melancholy of Southern Italy. The palette recalls both the volcanic soil of the Sannio region and the faded frescoes of nearby Pompeii, where light and ruin coexist in perpetual tension.
Within its intimate scale, the work feels monumental—an elemental landscape distilled into its purest form. The luminous white center seems to emerge from darkness, suggesting regeneration from what has been scorched away. In this small fragment of burned terrain, De Gennaro finds not devastation but endurance, turning the marks of fire into a quiet hymn to the resilience of the earth.
