Alluding to classical paintings as much as contemporary iconographies, Angelica Pedini’s artworks almost call to mind Caravaggio, especially in the way she fixates on light as the vehicle for the revelation of shapes and figures.
As a spiritual symbol, light is truth: the clarity of insight illuminating the darkened mind. As a more literal artistic medium, light seems to emanate from the skin of Pedini’s figures, making her portraits look like a self-illuminated visages.
The way Pedini’s portraits seem to radiate light might be said to literalize the seeking of emotional warmth and intimacy that her figures convey. At once recognizable and distant, Pedini’s portraits typically give off a kind of larger than life poignance, foregrounded against a the surface of the canvas, which lends their expression the sentient flush of human skin tones.
