Lot 146: MARGHERITA MANZELLI

Miss Missy
Signed, titled and dated “Margherita Manzelli ‘Miss Missy’ 1997” on the reverse.

19 3/4 x 17 1/2 in. (50.2 x 44.5 cm).

<br>Oil on canvas.

1997

CRG Gallery, New York

Margherita Manzelli uses the techniques of painterly realism to create fictional worlds. Her paintings look like female portraits but they are more like abstract paintings of state of mind. The figures function as portals to enter a mental space, a synaesthetic fusion of forms, sounds, and rhythms. Her interest in depicting the fluid space of dreams and irrational thought connects her with Italian Symbolism and the early work of Futurists like Umberto Boccioni and Luigi Russolo. Her paintings appear to be realist, but her representational skill is really a platform to transport the viewer into a state of mind that transcends earthbound reality.
J. Deitch, Form Follows Fiction, Torino, 2001