Marco Ercoli - Senza Titolo

Marco Ercoli (1986) Italy
Title: Untitled, 2022, oil on canvas
Dimensions: 60x40x2.5
Signature on the back
Excellent condition

The work has been shown in solo exhibitions:
2022 – Rome: "Epimetheus" (Epimeteo), Galleria 28 Piazza di Pietra, curated by Giorgia Basili.
2023 – Gualdo Tadino (PG): "In Your Eyes", Museo della Ceramica – Polo Museale, curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi.

Marco Ercoli’s works have passed through the Colasanti auction house:
https://www.colasantiaste.com/it/artisti/marco-ercoli-1327

The artist is listed in the Arsvalue artist catalog:
https://www.arsvalue.com/en/lots/1278322/marco-ercoli-roma-1986-albero-della-vita

Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/marco__ercoli/

Critical Analysis: "The Eclipse of the Sunflower"
The work presents itself as a powerful visual oxymoron. If the sunflower is, by definition, the flower that follows light, here it seems to spring from darkness or to be its victim. The composition is dominated by an ascending vertical tension, where the base of the painting is consumed by scarified flames, rendered with a nervous gesturality that recalls the roots of an primordial fire.

Key Elements
Night Chromatism: The palette abandons the vibrant yellows of post-impressionism to embrace tones of acid green and brownish ochre, almost suggesting inverted photosynthesis. The contrast between the deep black of the background and the radioactive brightness of the central vase creates a modern chiaroscuro effect that distorts volumes.
Flower Morphology: The sunflowers are not depicted in their splendor, but in a contorted senescence. The petals resemble tentacles or blind eyes folded in on themselves, suggesting a sense of existential anguish and decay.
The Vase as Totem: The vase at the center is not a mere container but a biomorphic mass, a bulb emerging from the fire. The gradient from emerald green to sulfur yellow gives it a almost mineral or toxic quality.

Synthetic Judgment
The artist demonstrates a remarkable ability to manipulate symbols of tradition to convey a contemporary message of unease. We are not facing a celebration of nature, but its psychological distortion. It is a work that does not seek to please the eye, but to challenge it, leading the viewer into a limbo between garden and abyss.

Verdict: A striking example of neo-symbolism where beauty is inseparably tied to its own destruction.

Bio:
Marco Ercoli was born in Rome in 1986. He earned a diploma from the Art High School “A. Caravillani.” From 2010 to 2011 he moved among the Central Apennines, leading a life distant from urban distractions based on slowness: during this period he dedicated himself to an in-depth study of painting, developing a careful attention to detail that led him to produce a cycle of works on the theme of nature, understood as a perfect and harmonious dimension, “Internal Migrations” and “The Tree of Life” are the two examples. In 2012 he won a scholarship offered by Colart, a major art materials company, which earned him a three-month artist residency in Brittany, concluded with an exhibition at the Abbey of Lehon. During the residency he developed the project “Revertar (Je Reviendrai)” whose theme is the symbiosis between man and nature, depicted through seven works as seven stages (Le sommeil, Le Reve, Omega Alfa, La conscience, L’Acceptation, L’Abandon, La Symbios). Returning to Rome, he continued to devote his research to the representation of nature with a new series of works titled “The Silence.” In the same year he traveled to Cambodia for a humanitarian project with the Bambino Gesù Hospital where he had the opportunity to visit the Khmer Rouge era political prison (S-21 Tuol Sleng) and was deeply struck by the thousands of ID photos of innocent detainees; this experience profoundly changed his personal and artistic path. From 2014 he began working on paper sculptures—the series “Army”—in which the color of the sculptures contrasts with the function of the objects reproduced by the artist (firearms and bladed weapons) with the aim of creating an oxymoron. In 2018 he had the opportunity to exhibit in Basel during Art Basel, and in conjunction with the event he visited the Bacon-Giacometti show at the Fondation Beyeler; this was a maieutic experience, hence the need and necessity to estrange himself and marginalize for an indeterminate period among the Umbrian Apennines to devote himself again to painting. This decision brought him back to the path of 2010, away from distractions, from the frantic pace of urban life, following the motto “Gnothi Seauton, eudaimonia, kata métron” (know thyself, happiness is a good realization, in measure). The worldview arises from how we observe reality and what surrounds us, how the truth of phenomena is subjective, moving from an abstract idea of time to a concrete and intelligible form of time, of fragility and paradox of life and how it is impossible to control events in the unpredictable that happens without warning.

Marco Ercoli
Artistic Curriculum
Awards and Recognitions
2024: Selected among the “222 Artists to Invest in 2024,” editorial volume edited by Exibart.
2023 – Gualdo Tadino: Realization of the Palio for the 2023 edition of the “Giochi de le Porte,” presented with a standing ovation at the Monumental Church of San Francesco.
2019 – Isernia: Winner of the P.A.C.I. Prize, Quality Award, Isernia City Auditorium.
2012 – France: Colart scholarship at the Atelier “Plessix-Madeuc.”
2008 – Rome: Winner of “MarteLive,” Quality Award, painting section.
Solo Exhibitions
2023 – Gualdo Tadino (PG): "In Your Eyes", Polo Museale – Monumental Church of San Francesco, curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi.
2022 – Rome: "Epimetheus" (Epimetheo), Galleria 28 Piazza di Pietra, curated by Giorgia Basili.
2021 – Massa Lubrense (NA): "Nightfall", Art Hotel Villa Fiorella, curated by Giorgia Basili.
2016 – Rome: "7", Galleria Curva Pura, curated by Serena Di Giovanni.
2010 – Rome: "F(R)ame", Libreria Einaudi.
2009 – Rome: "Butterfly Collection".
2009 – Rome: "Matter and Ego", Galleria Casina Giustiniani.
Group Exhibitions and Pavilions
2018 – Basel, Switzerland: "Summer Exhibition", Galerie Eulenspiegel.
2018 – Rome: "Profane liquid, for exterior use only", Studio Giga, curated by Bianca Catalano.
2015 – Rome: "Radiate", TakeawayGallery.
2015 – Fermo: Stripe Festival Art and Architecture.
2015 – Milan: Affordable Art Fair Milan (AAF), Superstudio Più, Stand E5 (White Noise Gallery).
2015 – Rome: "Any Given Post-it", White Noise Gallery.
2013 – Rome: "First Art Hotel", Galleria Muciaccia.
2012 – Rome: "Rendez-vous", Galleria ArtePerOggi.
2012 – France: "Les Atelier du Plessix-Madeuc", Abbaye St Magloire, Lehon.
2011 – Turin: Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion.
Installations and Special Projects
2018 – Civitella d’Agliano (VT): "Agora", Permanent Installation, Project 1 Artist 1 Day, Contaminazioni d’Arte.