Siro Cugusi's 'Imminence' at SOLO in Madrid Blends Dreamlike Realities

Italian painter Siro Cugusi (born 1980 in Gavoi, Sardinia) presents his solo exhibition 'Imminence' at SOLO, an institution within the Bowman Hal gallery in Madrid, designed by architect Juan Herreros. The show features large-format works that merge landscape, still life, and portraiture into hybrid, dreamlike scenes. Cugusi, also participating in the Quadriennale di Roma, draws on Renaissance and medieval art, citing Giotto and Piero della Francesca, as well as metaphysical and surrealist movements, to create spaces of suspended time and impending event. His palette includes visceral pinks, greens, and a recurring red spiral symbolizing the life cycle, inspired by Sardinia's Nuragic civilization. Objects like tables and vases add physicality, while broken ceramics suggest violence. Cugusi's process involves layering and removal over long periods, inviting viewers to lose themselves in the paintings. Rebekah Rhodes, SOLO's head of research and publications, describes the work as suspending disbelief and inhabiting the scenes. After years in Paris and America, Cugusi returned to Sardinia, where nature—especially gardens—serves as a microcosm reflecting the world. The exhibition is part of SOLO CSV's program.