Pasquale Giardino’s work is instinctive, irreverent and unmistakably his own. As a founding member of Melbourne’s influential Roar Studios, Giardino emerged from a movement that rejected artistic convention in favour of energy, experimentation and raw expression.

In Untitled (Rosso e Blu), forms, faces and fragments gather across the picture plane with the spontaneity of a visual language being invented in real time. There is something of the ancient in Giardino’s imagery- hieroglyphics, cave markings, primitive symbols - alongside the graphic immediacy of artists such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Yet the work remains distinctly Giardino: exuberant, instinctive and charged with movement.

The vivid red and blue palette heightens the sense of rhythm, while the accumulation of seemingly disparate forms creates a compelling tension between chaos and composition. It is a work that rewards close looking, revealing new characters, gestures and associations each time.

Represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Giardino occupies a distinctive place within the story of Australian contemporary art. Untitled (Rosso e Blu) is an especially lively example of his singular visual language and a compelling work for collectors of Roar and Australian contemporary art.

Pasquale GIARDINO (1961 - )
'Untitled (Rosso e Blu)' c. 2000
pastel on paper
Image Size: 50 x 72 cm
Dimensions: 80 x 100 x 2 cm 
Signed: signed centre left: Pasquale
Comes with Letter of Provenance
Condition is very good
(c) The Artist or Assignee