Marco Pariani (1986) is one of the most interesting figures of the new Italian art scene. For his first exhibition at Ribordy Contemporary, Pariani presents a set of paintings whose formal vocabulary derives from Abstract Expressionism, appropriating significant elements such as large scale formats, dramatic and expressive pictorial keys and gestures, as well as a contained color palette.

Pariani immediately transcends national boundaries and is inspired by the society around him, whether in Italy or the United States. It is thanks to this opening of horizons that Pariani was able to intercept and to appropriate the energy that in recent years has given a new vitality to an old medium such as painting.

In his works, we can recognize a discipline of constant composition, rigorously respected through the delineation on the canvas of a specific space assigned to the pictorial event. But in this space circumscribed and regulated by almost ritualistic technical passages, painting was born of an intrinsic and radical freedom. This is the surprising aspect of Pariani's art, capable of bringing together a serial component established by the constant and predetermined pattern of compositions, with a pictorial vitality that is exalted in this closed space.

One of the factors that characterizes the phenomenon of the new painting is not to look for correspondence with a content, even if this content is only formal or internal to the pictorial language itself (as for example in the experience of analytical painting). Today's horizon places us rather, in front of unselfish paths of any discourse on painting. There is rather a conviction, lived also with a lot of daring, on the liberating potentialities of painting: almost the rediscovery of a intrinsic potential for freedom and happiness.

The series of works that Marco Pariani presents at Ribordy Contemporary is emblematic of his recent course. The title of the exhibition "Vegan Racism" alludes to a very contemporary theme, confronted with an obviously non compliant spirit. This is a title that we find differently in all paintings presented, sometimes with a tone of subtle sarcasm, to emphasize the intrinsic contradictions of certain philosophies and practices of life. However, the artist's thought on the vegan issue remains in distant background, a pretext lived with a very ironic detachment. The theme and titles that result are never contained in the work; they are rather confronted with a pictorial experience which originates and develops, regardless of any indication, not to mention any diktat from new morals. This is a pictorial experience that unfolds before our eyes with determination and conviction.