Corso Leonello - Il fantasma di neon

This work is an expressionist and deeply tactile portrait created by the artist Leonello Corso, challenging the boundaries between painting and sculpture. The piece is a powerful study of identity and unease, characterized by a strong contrast: a chaotic and vibrant figure stands out against a dark, static background. The innovative use of composite materials and meticulous finishing with professional varnish give the work a remarkable physical and emotional presence.
Leonello Corso's work is characterized by its intense impasto texture. The structural base is made with high-quality plaster, applied to create significant thickness and relief on the canvas. This robust foundation supports the subsequent layers of paint.
The figure is created through a mixture of acrylic and oil paints applied with a dense, swirling technique. The acrylics provide the neon base (yellow, pink, electric blue) that justifies the title, while the oils enrich the texture and chromatic depth, simulating skin in perpetual agitation.
The focal point of the work, and the element that most clearly breaks the two-dimensionality, is the presence of glass eyes. These handcrafted inserts, luminous and brown, are embedded in the heavy mass of the face. Unlike the surrounding material, which is rough and confused, the glass is smooth and reflective, creating an unsettling effect: the eyes seem strangely real and alive, offering a hyper-focused gaze that contrasts with the 'fragmentation' of the body.
The hair is rendered with textured plaster and gray pigment, evoking a crown of static electricity. The background, treated with a uniform gray or black, pushes the figurative figure in the foreground, emphasizing its almost sculptural nature.
"The Neon Ghost" is not just a painting but an object of art that demands attention. The choice of glass eyes transforms the portrait into an entity that seems to actively observe the viewer. Leonello Corso's work captures the paradox of a modern identity: entirely constructed and chaotic (the material body), yet endowed with a sharp and penetrating consciousness (the glass eyes).
Signed and dated on the back by the artist to guarantee its uniqueness.