Giampaolo Talani "Tracking the Whale" Oil on Board, Seascape, Tuscan Coastal Art, Italian Contemporary Art

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A square canvas organized around the act of pursuit at sea. What Talani captures is not the whale but the … Read more A square canvas organized around the act of pursuit at sea. What Talani captures is not the whale but the tracking: the human posture of attention directed at something vast and mostly invisible, the boat made small by the scale of the undertaking. Oil on board gives the surface a solidity that suits the subject, the paint holding its ground the way a hull holds the water, with pressure and purpose. Color runs toward deep blues and the bright, particular green of the Mediterranean seen from close range.
His 20-meter bronze sailor, installed in the Port of Miami in 2012 to commemorate Amerigo Vespucci, was conceived as a figure setting out on a journey of exactly this kind: toward the unknown, toward the horizon where something enormous might be found or might find you. A concentrated and powerful seascape in Talani's most characteristic mode.

Giampaolo Talani (1955–2018) was born in San Vincenzo, Tuscany, on the Tyrrhenian coast, and trained at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts under Goffredo Trovarelli. After completing his training, his work moved from traditional and fresco painting through sculpture and interpretive exhibition, culminating in his passion for public art — most notably a 20-meter bronze sailor installed in the Port of Miami and installations at Berlin's East Side Gallery. He was exhibited at the Venice Biennale (2011), the Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi, and the Pinacoteca del Quirinale, and received the prestigious Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award at the Florence Biennale in 2015. The painting comes with a certificate of authenticity. See less