The Almine Rech Gallery is delighted to present Damien Cadio’s first solo exhibition. Winner of the Sovereign Prize (a European art prize awarded by the Sovereign Art Foundation to honour experienced or emerging artists) in 2007, Cadio has lived and worked in Berlin for several years.
On the first floor of the gallery is a display of original paintings by the artist that depict a mysterious, intimate atmosphere and conjure up an unusual universe that is as enticing as it is disquieting. His use of small formats reinforces this sensation and spotlights his ever-so-delicate, expressionistic brushwork. The strangeness emanating from the paintings is transcended by the frequent use of fluorescent colours and very distinctive light that plays with unsettling yet poetic and delicate chiaroscuro.
The subjects of Cadio’s pieces are enigmatic and occasionally even difficult to distinguish. The artist found his models here and there, above all on the Internet, and then created distance from the images by cropping them.
The themes broached are very diverse, but recurring in his work are portraits (Silberfisch, 2007), faceless portraits (Untitled, 2007), everyday scenes (St. Pauli, 2008) and animals (Buffalo Demon, 2008).
The mystery that enshrouds Cadio’s paintings is amplified by their titles, which often reflect the influence of music on his art (Huevos mit Jeff and Rani, 2008).
