Chicago, his city of birth. He is the painter Umar Rashid who currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He returns to Trento and paints stories that recall past eras.
In the sixteenth-century Palazzo Wolkenstein in Trento, the historic Raffaelli Art Studio of Trento presents the works that Rashid put together in a sort of site specific. The fascinating frescoed rooms dialogue with contemporary art that narrates legends.
The artist, who participated in a collective exhibition in 2019 ” The Fate of Empires”, returns to the studio. With “The legend of Dolomiti-Eroica” we start from the Dolomite territory to illustrate an intrigue and a love story that highlights negritude.
We are towards the middle of the 18th century; a conflict occurs between the Haitian army of sugar cane janissaries and the European commander. A soldier, Guy, the black hero of the Alps becomes the home guard of Giovanna, the illegitimate mulatto daughter of Gianfrancesco of Mantua. The Dolomites as a backdrop, where battles and intrigues are intertwined with a passionate love story between Guy and Giovanna.
Guy, nicknamed “Dolomiti”, faces gangs, criminals and deserters to reunite with his beloved. The works illustrate the story; they are on paper and on canvas, the result of research that starts in 2019 with many unpublished works from 2024; They are in ink and acrylic. The paper is sometimes wetted with coffee or tea.
A sign, that of the forty-eight year old Umar, which takes us back to Jean Michel BasquiatNew York painter, friend of Andy Warhol And Keith Haring, who died in 1988 at just 28 years old. An important exponent of American neo-expressionism and graffiti, the first black man esteemed in the artistic world.
Rashid also worthily highlights the identity of the black population. The artist has in fact exhibited at MoMa PS1 New York and at Zeitz Mocaa in Cape Town in South Africa.
There exhibition will be on view in Studio d’Arte Raffaelli via Marchetti 17 until 3 June 2024 (info here).
