Monday, March 31, 1997
ART:
Del Drago brews controversy with fourth primary color theoryBy Kathleen Rhames
Daily Bruin Contributor
Renowned Italian contemporary painter Francesco Del Drago isn't afraid to stir up a little controversy.
In fact, it's what he does best. Famous for ending his friendship with Picasso after the two argued over the use of color, Del Drago has challenged the techniques of contemporary painting with his unorthodox theories and upset centuries of artistic tradition.
Yet his critics call his work "the most advanced in contemporary painting," and have recognized him as one of the best painters of his time.
On display now at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Del Drago challenges Los Angeles critics to view his exhibit, "Gallery Italia," and test his theories for themselves.
"In America, the critics that have seen my work or heard my theory feel that they are way ahead of me," Del Drago says. "In reality, they don't want to admit that they are actually behind in their techniques and that they are hesitant to accept my research."
His discovery of a fourth primary color in 1985 forever enlarged the realm in which painters could work with color.
Calling it a "cold red," Del Drago has since painted all of his works using four principle colors instead of the traditional three. It has given his art a unique sense of visual distinction that sets his work apart from that of his peers. Del Drago himself describes the result as an "optical orgasm."
"With my art, I take structure and form and make it excite the erogenous zones," Del Drago says. "Beneath the colors is the structure of the painting but yet there's a synthesis from one sense to the next. It becomes a transformation from touch to a feeling of sensuality."
Encountering one of Del Drago's paintings is proof of this. Walking into a room surrounded by his artwork is like stepping into a prism of reflecting lights and colors. And yet, underneath, it remains structured and carefully designed.
One painting, titled "The Night," features shapes of male and female bodies painted in blues, greens and cold red. The linear, evenly spaced forms are highlighted by a circle of intermixing colors resembling a pool of water reflecting light onto a night sea.
Italian Consul General Enzo Coniglio describes Del Drago's work as "able to touch the deepest aesthetic sentiment of the human being which can only be reached through nonverbal communication."
Yet, while his theory of color has been accepted and promoted in Russia and China, critics in Europe and the United States still question it. Del Drago hopes that displaying his exhibit in Los Angeles will open minds to his research and broaden acceptance toward the use of the cold red.
Three years ago, Del Drago was honored in a film by the Italian National Television for his theory regarding cold red and how it could improve the quality of color in photography, cinema and television. The film, which featured the actor Marcello Mastroianni, gave Del Drago the media attention he needed for the project to become an enormous success.
Del Drago hopes his theory of color can be beneficial to American cinema as well. Since the premiere of his exhibit in Los Angeles, he has been invited back to the United States to give a lecture at UCLA's School of Film and Television regarding his use of color and the application of cold red in film and television.
"The problem with cinema in Los Angeles is that they don't understand how to work with color," Del Drago says. "They don't know about the cold red as a fourth principle color and consequently, the color in movies is really very ugly and not as sharp as it could be."
The artist's fascination with color dates back to a childhood passion, for which he spent time studying great painters like Monet, Tiziano, Renoir and Matisse. For 20 years he studied their paintings, perfecting their styles and techniques, all the time improving on them and creating a style of his own.
Determined to combine form with color abstraction and figuration, the young Del Drago strove to join together opposing techniques that had segregated painters of his generation for decades.
Although he has attained great success as a painter, Del Drago is adamant to explain that his career has also helped his research.
"Everything that I've done has been a type of research on color," the artist says. "It is a method that is both aesthetic and scientific but I've done it to advance the paintings I create rather than myself as an artist. It's not so much about me as about the art itself."
Del Drago's research has revolutionized the traditional theory of color for those who will accept it.
The use of cold red has become his signature trademark in all of his paintings and has added a sense of visual depth to his technique.
But when asked to explain how he came to all of these groundbreaking conclusions, Del Drago simply shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly and responds, "Through years of hard work."
ART: Del Drago's work will be on display at Istituto Italiano di Cultura's Gallery Italia through April 18. The institute is located at 1023 Hilgard Ave.