Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo presents Evenfall, the first institutional solo exhibition by Jem Perucchini. Spanning painting and ceramics, Perucchini’s practice draws upon art historical imagery across different sources—from patterns found in Italian late gothic painting and Ethiopian frescoes to the iconography of Renaissance art—to offer a new reading of the Western classical canon.
Evenfall centers on the theme of twilight, bringing together a selection of twelve new and existing paintings, alongside a newly produced installation of ceramic tiles. The ceramic work, Tappeto (2025), borrows its title from a short poem by Giuseppe Ungaretti, which describes how the colors of a tapestry are interwoven—each separate, yet connected. Placed at the entrance of the gallery, the piece serves as an introduction to the ideas of duality, interplay, and ambiguity throughout the exhibition. The paintings explore the liminal space between a series of dichotomies: day and night, visible and invisible, conscious and unconscious, spiritual and earthly, redemption and sin. Through his dramatic use of light, shadow, and composition, Perucchini deliberately disrupts these contrasts to draw attention to the illusion of their separation.
The titles of the paintings in Evenfall allude to classical antiquity, bringing to light lesser-known figures including Elagabalus, the young, Syrian-born emperor whose tumultuous reign over the Roman Empire was subsequently erased from history, or Eros and Thanatos, the personifications of love and death in Greek mythology. Their stories illustrate how history and mythology become intertwined over time, as Elagabalus—once a historical ruler—evolved into a cult figure and then a near-forgotten mystery, while Eros and Thanatos—minor deities in Orphic literature—are tied to the religious beliefs of Orphism and to Orpheus, whose historical existence remains uncertain. Perucchini’s portraits seem to avert their gaze, appearing to look beyond the frame as if silently prompting the viewer to consider what lies outside the represented image. Details such as a letter, a caress, or a glance conjure rich narratives, offering viewers an emotional intimacy that further invites a reconsideration of the classics.
By highlighting elements that have long been overshadowed within familiar canons, Perucchini not only reframes the idea of the classics as a construction, but also as an ongoing interpretation. Rather than affirming these established histories, his paintings reopen them as mysteries, waiting to be pieced together by the viewer. In doing so, the artist reflects the continuous transformation of narrative as it moves across geography and time, blurring the boundaries between history, mythology, and belief.
Biografia
JEM PERUCCHINI (b. 1995, Tekeze, Ethiopia) graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy, where he currently lives and works. His work has been exhibited at Corvi-Mora, London (2024 and 2022); La Triennale di Milano, Milan (2023); the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA), Melbourne (2023); the Italian Embassy, London (2022); and “Una Boccata D’Arte,” Battaglia Terme (PD), Italy (2021). In 2023, Perucchini was awarded the Jean-François Prat Prize and completed his public mural Rebirth of a Nation, commissioned for the Brixton Underground station by Art on the Underground.
