a contemporary studio & gallery focusing on art, design, & creative tomfoolery

White Post Studio is pleased to present “Holy Hell,” a new exhibition of site-specific, large-scale work by Italian painter Carlo Cittadini.

Passion, pleasure, pain: Pompeiian red paints it all. An ancient pigment, the hue represents a rich expression of vitality and religiosity, most famously in frescoes lining the interior walls at Villa of the Mysteries, a private home in the doomed city of Pompeii, which was swallowed by volcanic ash in 79 AD.

At human scale, or bigger, Cittadini’s new paintings present the movement and strength of men acting and being acted upon. In dominance or submission, their vigor shows the liveliness of life at the top and at the bottom. Aesthetically, a thin line separates them from saintliness, as their postures and positions reference famed religious paintings of godly men. Born and raised in central Italy, Cittadini grew up visiting the local museums and churches that house such ancient paintings of saints in situ.

Now based in New York, Cittadini finds inspiration in the hidden profanity of darkrooms and dungeons, as well as the soft sexiness of online advertisements and visual media culture, where men often find themselves in familiar positions. In a suite of six large-scale paintings and numerous small-scale studies, the unexpected intersection feels religious but real, ancient yet alive.

Please join us to celebrate the opening reception of "Holy Hell" by Carlo Cittadini (with libations and tacos). Saturday September 9, 5-9PM