Sparks | Chris Hood

NOVO is pleased to present Sparks, the first solo exhibition held in Florence by the American artist Chris Hood. The show, featuring Hood’s new series of works, will be inaugurated on May 8 at 4 pm at the Gallery Exhibition spaces in Piazza Carlo Goldoni 2, Florence.

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” (Plutarch, 1st century AD)

This simple, yet constitutive, idea that our brain needs a stimulus to trigger a reflection rather than the passive act of internalizing a preconceive thought, seems the guiding principle of Sparks. Indeed, ignition is the protagonist of Chris Hood series both figuratively and conceptually. On the one hand, the spark theme vividly comes out from Hood’s apparently flat surfaces, transforming the canvas into a window. However, when one observes more carefully the compositional scheme of Spark series, the different elements portrayed arise within their enigmatic blend revealing Hood’s unique process of painting from reverse while using multiple layers of paint.