Luca Serra's 'Añil' Exhibition at Galleria ABC-ARTE in Genoa

Luca Serra (born 1962 in Bologna) presents his solo exhibition 'Añil' at Galleria ABC-ARTE in Genoa. The Spanish word 'añil' means indigo, a blue that has long fascinated the artist. Serra works near Almería, 40 kilometers from Tabernas, on the edge of the desert where Spaghetti Westerns were filmed. His early works were gray chalk-and-graphite boards, but now color dominates. His technique involves coating malleable panels with tar, then applying geometric composition and powdery pigments. In a second phase, he glues a canvas onto the support and tears it away, 'breaking the colors' to create autonomous, surprising results. The final works are two-dimensional but resemble sculptural fragments—wall pieces or construction debris. Serra also uses small brick-like frames functionally to balance composition and weight. The exhibition includes 'Añil' and 'Piár' series (a child's mispronunciation of 'limpiar,' to clean), as well as acrylic resin casts of pigments and powders on canvas. The works evoke Mediterranean horizons with ocher, red rubber, and indigo as pure movement rather than representing sky, water, or earth.