Capri, 2026

GNelly  

Golden yellow, edge to edge: Capri announces itself with the sun. Against this dazzling background, Luxxo appears as a bust and face on, outlined in a nervous black line doubled with white. GNelly’s signature character, with its rounded silhouette and crossed-out eyes, lands on the most elegant island in the Bay of Naples.

The head is cut in two, like day and night. On the left, a navy blue that is almost black, topped with a deep red. On the right, white, sky blue and a touch of pink. The eyes are reversed accordingly: a white cross on the dark side, a black cross on the light side. A white seam follows the curve of the skull, a few vertical strokes run down beneath the left eye, and on the forehead stands a black three-pointed crown.

That crown returns on the chest, white this time, set on a navy blue square. The motif has been dear to street art since Basquiat, and it finds a particular echo here: Capri was an island of emperors before it became the island of la dolce vita. Around it, the body blends raspberry, fuchsia, sky blue, olive and orange, in flat areas worked with a palette knife. You can make out a spiral, a grid, small crosses that answer the eyes, a red sun with bristling rays, a white daisy. A red check pattern calls to mind a trattoria tablecloth, and the yellow discs scattered over the blue arm suggest lemons. The name Luxxo is written on the shoulder.

A thin black border painted freehand frames the composition. Luxxo can be read a second time, vertically, along the right-hand edge, and GNelly’s signature is set in white in a tone-on-tone cartouche at the bottom right.

The automotive clear coat completes the painting’s character. It stretches a smooth, deep surface over the yellow, recalling the gleam of glazed ceramic. The colours gain in intensity, the relief of the paint catches the light, and the reflections of the room take shape in it as in a mirror.

A one-of-a-kind piece, luminous and full of character, between pop art and urban art, signed and delivered with its certificate of authenticity.