Vincenzo Raimondo - Donna

Acrylic painting on canvas 42×82 cm

This painting plays with absence more than presence. The female figure does not show her face, and thus rejects easy identity, the kind suited for a catalog or an intrusive gaze. She is not a 'woman to be looked at'; she is a woman who goes. And she goes away, taking it all with her.

The body is divided into clear blocks of color, almost emotive rather than anatomical. Red, blue, ochre, white: they do not describe the skin, they describe moods. It is as if the figure were a moving emotional map, a precarious balance between energy, fragility, and strength. The central black, essential and decisive, acts as a structure, as a supporting column: without it, the rest would be only noise.

The background is deliberately unresolved, blurred, almost dissolving. There isn’t a precise place, because it isn’t necessary. The woman doesn’t belong to a space, but to a passage. She is crossing something, and she does so naturally, without explanations and without asking for permission. An attitude that, honestly, should be taught to many people.

Overall the painting communicates freedom, fluid identity, and self-determination. It is sensual without being provocative, strong without being rigid, poetic without becoming laudatory. A figure that does not look back, and precisely because of this remains etched in memory.

*****
As a self-taught artist, my work doesn't adhere to a fixed style, but evolves over time and with experience.
My painting stems from observing daily life and listening to emotions.
I tackle different themes and experiment with new languages, letting each work find its own form.
My art is instinctive, essential, and imperfect, tied to the complexity of human beings and nature.
Art, for me, is not decoration but an authentic, lived presence.

In 2015 and 2016 I was a finalist in the Sunday Painters competition promoted by La Stampa, among over 3,000 works selected.
The selections were curated by a qualified jury, with critic Francesco Bonami in attendance.
The finalists were presented in a program associated with Artissima – the International Contemporary Art Fair in Turin. In 2016 I received the Critics' Prize (First Prize).