Success at Magee’s Italian debut exhibition in Florence
In June, Amy released her first publicly available pieces of 2023 during her group exhibition at Museo Bellini, Firenze, IT 2023 in collaboration with Divulgarti Art.
Divulgarti organise contemporary art exhibitions in places rich in cultural history and prestige, such as Palazzo Ducale and Palazzo Saluzzo dei Rolli in Genoa, or Palazzo Zenobio in Venice and in other national locations.
Amy wanted to use this exhibition as an opportunity to reveal another side to her work - a fusion of figurative subjects and abstract style to as an homage to the Italian Renaissance figurative art that inspired Amy to pursue painting since she was young.
The Work:
Amy revealed her two latest pieces, Demeter and Persephone, a diptych that tells the Greek Mythological story of the deep connection a mother shares with her daughter and represents the fading of innocence as a young woman charts her way into maturity. It’s a story about love, relationships, family bonds, grief, loss, and a renewal of hope.
Up close, the work maintains an abstract style with a strong composition, yet, take a few steps back and the pieces will reveal two ethereal women, depicting the story of Demeter and Persephone.
Demeter was the Ancient Greek goddess of harvest. Persephone was the alluring daughter of Demeter and Zeus, loved by Hades, to whom Demeter refused her daughter’s hand in marriage.
Persephone was then abducted by Hades and brought down to the underworld. The painting juxtaposes the chaos, pain, and fiery resentment within Demeter, with the unusually tranquil descent of Persephone as she surrenders to the underworld. Zeus later sent Hermes to the underworld to return Persephone to her mother. Instead of finding a grief-stricken maiden, he was met with a radiant Queen who had embraced her role as Queen.
Demeter threatened that if her daughter did not return to her, she would never again tend to the earth. It was agreed that Persephone would return to earth and her mother for six months of the year and return to the underworld for the other six, which many believe explains the changing seasons of the year - when away from her daughter, Demeter allows the earth to wither and die, when reunited, the earth once again becomes fertile and fruitful.
The goddesses are both overthrown by a power greater than themselves, yet the paintings depict 2 very different experiences of helplessness. You see the chaos and heartbreak in Demeter’s fiery depiction versus Persephone’s submissive, quiet descent into the underworld.
Broken leaves transcend into the underworld from Demeter’s painting into Persephone’s (hence the speckles of rouge/pink) while the underwater reflections in the paintings convey the weight and pain of the natural forces weighing down on the women.
The show was a great success with collectors travelling from the UK to Italy to view the pieces in the flesh, as well as the support of Amy’s UK galleries, friends and family who were also in attendance at the opening event.
Next steps:
The pieces will now be shipped to the UK for their first reveal at Clifton Fine Art; Amy’s original and flagship UK gallery. To view them, please contact the gallery directly on info@cliftonfineart.com or call 0117 239 7684.