RYAN LEE is pleased to announce Momenti di Luce, an exhibition of new work by Turin-based artist Angiola Gatti, her third with the gallery. In Momenti di Luce, Gatti continues to work in trademark medium of ballpoint pen on canvas, producing works in direct proportion to her own body. Each mark is a translation of her corporeal expression, corresponding to her height and the length of her reach. The resulting compositions reveal changes in the speed, pressure, and gesture of Gatti’s hand, generating images that range from spare and ethereal to dense and brooding. Though the artist works on unstretched canvas, the final compositions are presented stretched.

The works in Momenti di Luce are influenced by the changing qualities of light in various forms: the shifting light in Gatti’s studio, natural light on her many walks through the city, or memories of sublime light experienced during her travels. It also references flashes of light in the creative process, moments in which “something unexpected happens and there is a shift of energy, a change in my mind and hand, a kind of happiness,” says Gatti. In one of her works on view, layers of blue ink in varying tones appear pulled to the upper right quadrant of the canvas, like a cloud propelled by the wind. Meticulously placed patches of pink punctuate the composition, and the addition of an explosive smudge of red and green oil stick just left of center enhances a sense of depth.

Gatti’s exploration of light extends as well to sparks of emotion between people, such as love, and also reflects a sense of existential clarity. At the same time, it suggests its complement: darkness and the void. Deep pockets of blue-black are carefully interspersed in a sea of blue, indigo, purple, and soft reds, bleeding to the edges of the canvas in Untitled (Senza titolo). This meditative composition insinuates the tensions that underlie Gatti’s process, as she negotiates line and color, dynamism and stillness, positive and negative space—blurring the boundary between painting and drawing.