Stefano Pallara

Originally from southern Italy, Stefano has lived in London for two decades. Identity, introspection, mindfulness, and freedom are recurrent themes in his work, as well as a sense of nostalgia for the Mediterranean Sea and its dazzling light. Stefano has so far produced three collections of paintings: ‘Colordive’, ‘Inner Horizon’, and ‘Wandering Heights’. COLORDIVE is a collection of paintings evoking a solitary jump into the unknown, seeking self-discovery. A spiritual communion with the ocean can both frighten and blind with its beauty. An ancestral instinct of surrendering to the primordial rhythms of the tide that overwhelms and releases, giving us back to ourselves. Mindscapes explores themes of awareness, sense of self, and freedom. Pieces in this series are made of recycled materials including reused wooden panels, wall paint leftovers, and paper cutouts. INNER HORIZON is a series of paintings made mainly with oil on canvas that was inspired by the French symbolist poetry vision of the ocean as a metaphor of the subconscious mind, and by practices of mindfulness and meditation. Imaginary sea surfaces represent the mind experiencing moments of calm and stillness, inner horizons and unexplored spaces are places where one can escape to for peace, awareness, and acceptance. WONDERING HEIGHTS is a series of cityscapes and mindscapes in which lyrical skies represent collective dreams and desires, drifting and sparkling above a brutalist concrete jungle. This series is a tribute to the colorful power of imagination as a relief from everyday life. The subdued color palette represents the urban experience, but is also a tribute to the challenges and inputs to inner growth and self-discovery that life in the big city can expose one to.