MARCO PARIANI: PAINTING BAKERY

Skarstedt is delighted to annunce Painting Bakery, Marco Pariani’s third solo exhibition with the gallery and the second presentation in London.

October 8 – November 16, 2024

In his latest exhibition, Pariani showcases a plethora of festive iconography including gingerbread men, snowmen and cookies among other cartoonish characters which make up his whimsical world. In many ways, Painting Bakery is a fluid extension of Pariani’s past show, Inflatables, at Skarstedt London, yet reveals a distinct progression in both technique and materials. Expanding into the tricky terrain of black gesso paint, Pariani experiments with bold colour compositions and graphic layering, synthesising colour and form.

This exhibition takes its inspiration from gingerbread house-making competitions, thus, resuming his investigation into the semiotics of holiday paraphernalia while revelling in its ‘ugly’ patterns and garish candy colours. Pariani’s artistic methodology mirrors that of a chef or even a scientist, using his studio instead of a kitchen or laboratory. He combines disparate ‘flavours’ until inspiration strikes resulting in the masterful textures seen in artworks like Gingerbread Soccer Team or Eight vs Eight.

Like a baker, Pariani breaks down disparate elements of his practice to their most essential states and blends them to create each piece. Through deconstruction and reconstruction, he builds something wholly new that explores the intuitive act of painting. In this way, Painting Bakery is as much about the means of creation as what has been created.  

Blending the permanence of painting with the impermanence of graffiti, Pariani fuses opposite forces into a cohesive entity. Guided by his unwavering perception, he builds his canvases first in strength and then in subject, often destroying it entirely to discover his true intentions. Painting Bakery not only exemplifies his unconventional process but illustrates his distinct visual language through an endearing and quirky lens.