A bold, dazzling pink, the pink of the bougainvillea tumbling down the terraces of the Amalfi Coast. It is against this background that Luxxo appears, as a bust and face on, tightly framed. GNelly's signature character, with its rounded silhouette and crossed-out eyes, stops off in southern Italy.
Here, the setting enters the character. The pink of the background runs into the face, as if Luxxo were taking on the colour of the place. A patch of white surrounds the left eye, struck through with a thick black cross and topped with three lashes. The right eye answers with a white cross set directly on the pink. Lower down, a flat area of turquoise, a patch of black and a purple shadow finish modelling the head.
The body belongs to yellow. A luminous lemon yellow, which calls to mind the citrus fruit of the coast, shot through with white, turquoise, orange, purple and deep blue. The paint is applied with a palette knife, in long overlapping vertical sweeps, like the houses of the village stacked up the cliffside. The texture is thick and generous, and keeps the trace of every gesture.
As always, Luxxo wears its souvenirs. The word “Positano" is hand-drawn on one shoulder, “Luxxo" on the other. Daisies outlined in orange bloom on the chest, small triangles and scribbled loops punctuate the arms, and fine spatters of colour escape from the silhouette. A black border painted freehand frames the composition, the name Luxxo runs vertically along the right-hand edge, and GNelly's signature sits in a black cartouche at the bottom right.
Automotive clear coat, borrowed from the car industry, covers the whole in a taut, mirror-like surface. It gives the pink the gleam of lacquer, almost that of Italian bodywork, and the reflections of the room drift across it as the hours go by.
A one-of-a-kind piece, cheerful and sun-filled, between pop art and urban art, signed and delivered with its certificate of authenticity.