Gabriele Cappelli: Selected Works

Cadogan is excited to announce a new exhibition of works by Gabriele Cappelli. Clean and powerful, Gabriele Cappelli’s abstract geometric forms bring together a classical aesthetic with a contemporary approach to colour and line. Combining soft organic forms with smooth lines and points, his ‘Compositions’ distil a universal visual language into its purest form. 

Inspired by Geometric Abstract movements, and in particular by the works of Wassily Kandinsky, Cappelli’s artworks reach an inherent sense of balance in their proportion, form and colour. The rhythms and structures of music guide his approach to painting, informing his practice and the development of his works and their sense of order. Cappelli has always been interested in the dialogue between different disciplines, in both theory and technique his works encapsulate the harmony the artist has found between the past and present. He is able to recall historical artistic traditions through abstract and modernist shape and textures, re-evoking and revitalising them by combining them with conceptual and visual proponents of contemporary art. This is augmented by his understanding of the idiosyncratic architecture of his home country and in particular Bologna, where he studied. Urban plans and photographs have often served as a point of departure for his abstract canvases.

Faithful to his craftsmanship-driven practice, Cappelli combines an interest in the theory and conceptuality of the contemporary British art scene, with dexterity in his art. Gabriele Cappelli’s use of pure unadulterated oil paints lends richness to the combinations of soft and bold colours in his compositions. The intensity of this paint is often augmented by the addition of gold dust. His paintings have a true smoothness to their surface and yet within this the labour and patience of the artist is still expressed in the brushstrokes evident on close looking. The artist thus creates depth from the flatness of the canvas, asserting the materiality of the artwork itself. 

Gabriele Cappelli has been represented by Cadogan for almost 10 years and this will be his fifth solo exhibition with the gallery.