Stephen D'Onofrio: Green Thumb

October 05 - November 09,2024

From Galleri Urbane: "Galleri Urbane is pleased to announce Green Thumb, a solo exhibition of work by Stephen D’Onofrio. This is the Philadelphia-based artist’s fifth solo show with the gallery. Green Thumb is a visual exploration, where the boundaries between nature, art, and everyday design blur into a vibrant tapestry of color and form. This new body of work delves into the world of flowering vines and fruit bowls adorned with blooms, drawing inspiration from the rich tradition of European still life masters and the precision of scientific illustration. D'Onofrio's paintings are exquisitely evocative and delectably alive. A fruit bowl contains grapefruits and pomelos, whole and broken open to reveal juicy segments, while bees buzz languorously, rapturously around them and blooming lilies complete the picture. As a slice of life, it is tantalizing, sensory, electric: one can hear the amorous whir, smell floral ambrosia, and taste pungency. Elsewhere, morning glories or nasturtiums interlace their leafy vines, spreading them into a matrix that flirts, compositionally, with all-over pattern while remaining aware of the canvas’s edge. In Green Thumb, the artist seeks to unravel the delicate dance between botanical abundance and the meticulous order of nature. The winks and nods to genre-painting tropes are not without precedent. His inspirations in the art-historical canon: 17th-century Italian Giovanna Garzoni, painter of cherries and lemons in luscious still lives; 16th-century German apothecary Basilius Besler, botanical illustrator of myriad species; 19th-century English textile designer William Morris, master of dizzying pure pattern. D’Onofrio’s own still lives are not allegorical, and yet they speak of the memento mori tradition. “I’m borrowing the standard composition of a shallow still life that I think feels familiar to most people” against a dark background, D’Onofrio says. “They have this lasting power.” "

Reception: October 05, 2024 | 5-7 pm

Galleri Urbane Dallas 2277 Monitor St.
Dallas, TX 75206
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