On 23 March, the Italian Cultural Institute of Montréal opens an exhibition dedicated to the paintings of Sandra Morellato.
Sandra Morellato wanders through the confetti and distortions of a dreamless era.
It is animated by a single, unchanging attitude: the childlike naivety of someone who sees the world without malice and always draws it more beautiful and more alive than it appears to us.
A bit like Massimo Bontempelli’s “Minnie la Candida”.
It is no coincidence that we have to go back to Bontempelli and the beginning of the last century to find an artistic freshness that was still possible at the time of the first avant-gardes but became outdated at the very moment when painting sought to become cerebral and political.
In Morellato’s paintings, a naive, almost Orphic charm blends with the fast, “fauvist” gesture of Matisse.
And then there is the nude, of course, a massive nude, Michelangeloesque and therefore male, but also – and almost paradoxically – enveloping and soft.
It is a nude that is therefore contrary to the demeaning, vampire-like, anguished tradition that goes from Edvard Munch to Lucien Freud and, of course, the horrific visions of Francis Bacon.
The evils of the world do not frighten Sandra Morellato; the painter appears not to ignore them, but willingly leaves them at the door.
Born in Montreal, Sandra spent memorable summers travelling in Italy, where she fell in love with the beautiful architecture and landscapes of her parents’ home region, Veneto.
A graduate of McGill University’s School of Architecture, she worked for several years in the field of architecture and interior design.
Her works have been exhibited at Art Basel in Florida, Dallas Contemporary, Montréal and Québec City.
More information can be found at: iicmontreal.esteri.it.
