Heather James Fine Art presents an exclusive virtual exhibition featuring the paintings of the unique Italian artist Max Pellegrini. Spanning almost four decades, the artworks in the show delve into the wondrous world Pellegrini creates through varied references and astonishing allusions.

The figures in his paintings are surrounded in dreamy colors within lush landscapes or inconceivable architecture. Pellegrini references stretch from Greco-Roman mythology to neoclassical sculpture, from Old Master paintings to Italian literature. Despite the density of references, his paintings are whimsical and pensive while pushing into postmodernism. They dazzle the eye and the mind.

In “Psiche e Amore”, Pellegrini references both Greek mythology and the Roman writer, Apuleius’s story. Moreover, the figures in their position and clothing echo the style of Old Master artists that created works inspired by the Classics who also dressed their figures in contemporary clothing. Nevertheless, the wistful colors and repetition of figures complicates any simple understanding.

In the same vein of Psyche and Cupid, “Rimembranze: del bacio del Canova all Salita al Calvario di Bosch” literally references images from Canova’s sculpture and Bosch’s painting. But, in their juxtaposition alongside other images and vibrant colors, Pellegrini mines the processes of reading visual language.

Not limited to just these two paintings, each work in the exhibition presents a beautiful collision of tones, quotes, and allusions.

Max Pellegrini was born in Turin on the 29th September 1945. While Pellegrini has painted since an early age, even having his first solo exhibition at 21, it was the meeting in 1973 with critic Luigio Carluccio that had a profound effect of his work. Pellegrini began mining art history. Traditional in that he paints with oil on canvas, Pellegrini pushes the content of his works into a pop surrealism