The Agostino Arrivabene “To Pathei Mathos” retrospective exhibition at the Panorama Museum in Badfrankenhausen, Germany is composed of 125 works, mostly paintings (miniature to large) and drawings, etchings and sketchbooks. During the years he has developed a series of symbolic, mythologic themes and characters (life and death, light and darkness, body and soul, Pandora, Orpheus, Athena, Lucifer etc.) trying to sublimate his own tragic life experiences into a creative and sharable path. The result is a fantastic and magical trip in which personal nightmares and eternal feelings can live side by side. The title of the exhibition is a Greek phrase that means truth and knowledge through pain and suffering.
With a strong classical and italian background, all influences and inspirations from ancient and present masters are clearly and sincerely visible in the progress of his activity, from the strong fascination for the symbolism of William Blake, Gustave Moreau and Ernst Fuchs in his earlier work, through Odd Nerdrum and the nordic art environment.
Images by Agostino Arrivabene and text by David Molesky. (Via)