Paginae Naturalis (2013)
ritratti reali di animali fantastici
“A botany book without illustrations would be like a geography book without maps.”
John Ray, 1684.
Paginae naturalis is an exhibition of acrylic paintings on paper, a collection of naturalistic illustrations, a “wunderkammer’ of colored spots, a figment of the imagination.
The work of Hitnes, whether painted straight on to a wall, drawn on paper, or etched on copper, always interprets and draws inspiration from the forms found in the natural world.
The 135 pieces in this exhibition follow the species of animals within the collections of the Museo Civico di Zoologia of Roma, and are shown alongside the specimens prepared by taxidermists, in the same cases.
Art mimics science. Art concocts science. Animal forms infuriate, brushstrokes capture the essence of claws, feathers become dashes of colour, and attention is gripped by the minute details of a beak.
Paginae naturalis is a catalogue of “semi-false” painted animals, and their fictional categories, where the painter uses his mark to play with reality that melts into a blurred imitation.
Foto di Attila Remai
