Luca Longhi

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

Through painting, I want to reproduce memories and atmospheres, and show how signs and layers coexist, relate, and create meaning over time. Through the use of materials, I reconstruct and manipulate a wall, both physical and psychological, transforming it into a space of reflection and uncertainty. Rather than the romanticised idea of abandonment, my work dwells on the incompleteness of memories and what remains. My practice originates in careful observation of the real world. I am drawn to quiet yet evocative spaces: public toilets, trattorias, snack bars, construction sites, and my grandparents' home. Unassuming places we encounter but tend to overlook. Dirt, marks, graffiti, chipped paint, burnt marks and stains: discarded fragments of daily life elevated into abstract language. Art history runs through my work too, from Nouveau Réalisme and Arte Povera to palimpsests and frescos. Painting as an instinctive performance of decisions: resolving, erasing, building, cutting, sticking, composing, covering, scratching, removing, breaking, vandalising, re-covering, resuscitating. My curiosity leads me in many directions and allows me to find the wrong methods for the right reason. I make deliberate choices to use non-conventional materials: ceramic tiles, wood, and wallpaper leftovers that channel and reference everyday spaces. It is a concrete way of thinking, a form of realism. Beauty and deterioration are not opposites in my work. Decay is not romanticised; it is...

Artwork