Francesco Dezio - Woman in red

A young woman turns over her bare shoulder and shoots a sly look, with her lips slightly parted and a pink shadow on the lids. On her head she wears a sumptuous crown of red roses, pink hydrangeas and green leaves, painted with a rich, tactile brushstroke. Behind her the background is a field of reds laid on with a spatula, interrupted by rectangles and streaks of cobalt blue, while white, scratched marks run through her hair and the hand resting on her throat.

The contrast between the naturalistic rendering of the face and skin and the gestural abstraction of the background is the heart of the painting: a sensual, theatrical figure, suspended between Baroque portraiture and contemporary painting, where red dominates the entire scene.

Technical details

Technique: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 60 × 60 cm
Year: 2024
Signed and dated lower right
Original work, unique
Certificate of authenticity included

The artist
Francesco Dezio (born 1970) lives and works in Altamura, Apulia. Painter, writer and editorial illustrator, he moves in the realm of disrupt realism: a figurative style rooted in realism, infused with irony, narrative incongruities and dramatic light of Baroque provenance. In his painting, the rigor of detail coexists with a deliberately visible brushstroke, with echoes of Caravaggio, Velázquez and Bouguereau, but also of Magritte and Dalí for the dreamlike, uncanny quality.

As a narrator he has published with Feltrinelli, TerraRossa and Laterza. Among his novels are Nicola Rubino è entrato in fabbrica (Feltrinelli 2004; TerraRossa 2017) and La meccanica del divano (Ensemble 2021). He illustrates covers for TerraRossa Edizioni and Revolver Edizioni. Trained in visual design with Riccardo Falcinelli, he brings to painting a strong sense of composition and framing.

https://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2023/05/10/news/mostra_scrittore_francesco_dezio-399555211/
https://www.treccani.it/magazine/chiasmo/extra/SSU_Dezi_Conversazione.html
@francescodezioart