Omar Galliani

1954, Montecchio Emilia, Italy

Omar Galliani is one of the most important contemporary Italian draughtsmen. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna under Concetto Pozzati, he developed a body of work deeply tied to the human body, the face, and drawing as an almost physical and mental experience. His works, often made on panel with graphite and pigment, combine anatomical precision with a visionary dimension. Faces, eyes, skin, and bodily details become images suspended between reality and dream. He has taken part several times in the Venice Biennale, the São Paulo Biennale, and the Paris Biennale. His works are held in major museums and international collections, including the Uffizi Galleries in Florence.

In Nuove Anatomie the face seems to appear and disappear from the surface of the panel. The features are almost dissolved, like an image held in memory or in a dream.
The black mark, thin and continuous, runs through the work like a vital line, while the bright red pigment in the lower part breaks the silence of the image with a sudden, physical presence.
Galliani manages to render the body as something fragile, mental, almost unstable. More than a portrait, it feels like a human trace slowly surfacing from the material itself.