Coup for Oil Gallery
First UK solo show of leading contemporary artist
TAKE a trip to Hungerford’s Oil Gallery, where there’s a special show opening this week. Prelude is the debut UK solo show by Christopher Luigi Veggetti Kanku, a commercially-successful artist building a legacy through his work and commissions, who lives and works in Brianza, Milan.
Congolese-born, Luigi grew up in Northern Italy and is one of the principle artists on the contemporary art scene. His career so far has seen him win prizes, press and plaudits and he has appeared in major Italian magazines such as Arte Mondadori and Flash Art. Luigi’s work is represented in galleries in Berlin, Milan, Florence, Stockholm and London and he has held numerous solo and groups shows across many galleries, but this is his first solo show in this country.
His work consists of portraits, urban street scenes and rural landscapes, in a style born in the classic and executed in the modern. “His use of bursting colour or monochrome sepia splashed with acid just pops to the eye and intoxicates your senses,” says gallery owner Justin Cook. “And this is what makes Luigi different. You sense that he is becoming someone who is building a real legacy.”
Luigi's latest project AFROITALIANI, for the Italian state, intending to show at Manifesta 11, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art 2018. He will paint 25 portraits dedicated to important citizens of African descent, to be exhibited in Milan and New York. Justin says: “Oil is delighted to be hosting Luigi’s debut solo show in the UK and honoured to receive him after his legacy-building AFROITALIANI project in Italy.
“It promises to be something memorable.”
You can find Oil Gallery at 5 Bridge Street, Hungerford, RG17 0EH.
