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Roberto Pagliarulo
View from Villa Rufolo, Amalfi Coast
View from Villa Rufolo, Amalfi Coast
21 x 27cm
ink on paper
Biography
Roberto Pagliarulo was born in 1979 in St. Albans to an Italian father and English mother. He was bought up in an artistic family, with his father being interested in art and photography and his mother being a professional actress. He was educated at Haileybury, where he was an academic and art scholar and received the College’s painting prize. He then went on to obtain a first class degree in History at Bristol University and an M. Phil in American Literature from Jesus College, Cambridge University. He then pursued a career in art and law, being represented by two art galleries in London and working for law firms, Slaughter and May and Norton Rose Fulbright.
In addition to a love of Roses as a subject matter, Roberto’s recent work is inspired by Italian culture, mythology and landscape and is both figurative and surreal, drawing parallels with the Metaphysical art of Georgio de Chirico. It is also full of colour. Unconventional imagery, unexpected compositions and unpredictable colour scheming depict his own particular reality. Roberto’s paintings are worlds within worlds, peopled by figures of antiquity where apples might be blue, trees are pink and windows open upon ancient ruins. These enigmatic cityscapes inspired by the light of the Mediterranean are inventive and dreamlike, drawing the viewer into a captivating perceptual experience.
“Roberto’s paintings are both beautiful and intriguing, and that mystery is at the heart of their reality.” Paul Richards, artist and senior tutor at The Slade School of Art.
Roberto regularly exhibits in London and his work is held in a number of collections. Recent London exhibitions include: “Classical Allusion and Colour” April 2017 at Highgate Contemporary Art, June 2016, Haileybury Festival of Arts, exhibition and lecture by Roberto on “Colour, Composition and Meaning”, December 2015 & January 2016, Group Show, Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery; 6 July–4 September 2015, Summer Farrago, Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery, Group Summer Exhibition; 17 June–3 July 2015 Colour: an exhibition of the works of Roberto Pagliarulo, Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery; October 2014, The Affordable Art Fair, Lena Boyle Fine Art, Battersea Park; January 2014 The London Art Fair, Lena Boyle Fine Art, Business Design Centre, Islington.
Current Exhibition
Further Reading
Amalfi is a particularly dramatic expression of Italy: towering views around dramatic bends, cliffs and masses of sea always there in the background, sometimes in the foreground when you are on the beach or on a boat; lemons, tomatoes and trees pushing your eyes into the blue and green of the seascapes; the striking Church of Positano with the dome that has a Middle Eastern influence with the green, yellow, white and black symmetric patterns.
Interview by Ruth Millington
Roberto Pagliarulo: An Amalfi Dream runs from 4th – 26th September, 2020 at Highgate Contemporary Art.