Carlo Maria Mariani's eternal cities: in a recent series of U.S. exhibitions, Mariani, a veteran of Rome's avant-garde, pays tribute to New York City, his adopted home. With their Neo-Classical appearance, his idealized figures are unexpected denizens of the contemporary urban environment - Critical Essay - Biography

Shipwrecked (2002-03) is a far more apocalyptic vision of the city. Here, a Neo-Classical female nude in the center of the composition falls from the impossible heights of the red-and-white skyscraper complex surrounding her. Made of Legos, the brightly colored plastic building blocks for children, the structures recall those that Mariani has used in earlier works to indicate the cheap construction materials, uninspired design and toxic environments that too often characterize the modern urban landscape. In Shipwrecked, which may or may not 'allude to the victims of 9/11, the woman's expression of apprehension is ambiguous. Is she fearful of a perilous fall or of the odious surroundings?

The flailing motion and frantic tone suggested by the figure in this painting contrast with the crouching poise and hushed serenity of the one in The Reservoir (2002). On the right of this canvas, a red-haired female nude, reminiscent of a Rossetti model, crouches near a pool of water. She examines a grapevine incongruously growing along the banks of the Central Park Reservoir; reflections of the city's skyline shimmer in the background.

Among the most provocative and disturbing recent works, The Painter (2001) is a self-portrait of sorts. This painting within a painting shows a flayed figure whose blue body resembles an ecorche statuette used in academic life-study classes. The armless man, presumably the painter, wears a crown of laurel and seems to motion with the stump of a forearm toward a canvas on an easel, a painting like those in the "City" series. As a self-portrait, the image shows Mariani exposed, vulnerable and possibly even thwarted. Yet the artist also appears honored and elated, having just completed his homage to New York and to all eternal cities.

"Carlo Maria Mariani: City Meditations" was on view at Earl McGrath Gallery, New York. [Apr. 24-June 14]. A Mariani solo show, "Light and Shadow," appeared at Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco [Nov. 7-30, 2002]. "Carlo Maria Mariani: Spiritual Erosion" was presented at Axel Raben Gallery, New York. [Sept. 26-Nov. 2, 2002]. Mariani's work goes on view this month in "The Madonna in Contemporary Art" at two venues, Rome's Pantheon and the European Parliament Building in Brussels [Oct 6-Nov. 20].

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