"Sitka Spruce Nocturne Study"
Renato Muccillo, "Sitka Spruce Nocturne Study," oil on canvas, 18" x 18".
RENATO MUCCILLO, Terra Nocturna
Avenue Gallery, Victoria
May 27 - June 9, 2007
By Kimberly Croswell
“We owe it to ourselves to look beyond what is obvious,” says Renato Muccillo. “Darkness offers more than we may readily perceive.” In Terra Nocturna, the artist’s latest paintings offer an uncommon theme — landscape paintings of nature at night. Muccillo draws his inspiration from the landscape surrounding his home in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Unlike the heroic tradition of Canadian landscape painting — the depiction of nature as wild and “untouched” — Muccillo’s ethereal scenes are ordered by human development. His subject is a land that has been transformed and appropriated, either by farming or industry. In keeping with his theme, Muccillo’s style refers to the 17th Century Dutch tradition of landscape painting — nature is ordered by the artist to create a pleasurable scene for the eye to meander through. Following this tradition, Muccillo creates richly detailed scenes filled with verdant colours and warm shades. His evocation of half-light encourages the viewer to draw from his landscapes an experience of the everyday beauty of nature. However, it is a nature “civilized”, a groomed, rationally-ordered place.
Represented by: Avenue Gallery, Victoria; White Rock Gallery, White Rock, BC; Alicat Gallery, Bragg Creek, AB.