The painter Alvaro de Taddeo (*1957) from Basel attended the Humanistic Gymnasium Münsterplatz Basel, completed a preparatory course at the Basel School of Arts and Crafts, and then an apprenticeship as a window dresser. From 1999 to 2022 he worked part-time to pay his living expenses and otherwise devoted himself to his artistic work He has exhibited in numerous exhibitions in the Greater Basel area.
The main source for his image inventions is literature. His working method therefore requires a lot of time, because his images do not arise spontaneously but are the result of a long thought process. His method involves a lot of reading and meditation leading him to developing the image idea over many years; following Theodor Adorno’s adage, “Art is magic, freed from the lie of being truth.”
Since de Taddeo’s original interest was to work on stained glass, he initially began experimenting with the technique of collage using images made from black cardboard and transparent coloured paper. He was interested in religious themes in the style of traditional Christian church windows and mosaics. In 1990 he began to paint pictures in watercolour and gouache on cardboard.
In his painted works the firmly outlined black contour and the monochrome surface have been retained as stylistic devices, but his themes expanded to include ancient myths, classical theater, and views from Italy and Basel. In the flat compositions, without effects of depth and avoiding volume, the figurative scenes are executed with drawing skill and nuanced color sense. He captures the movements of his figures, often from William Shakespeare's plays, with skillfully flowing lines and perspective foreshortenings of the bodies. He plays both with the degree of stylization and with the richness of detail of the individual image elements—inspired by French Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and Jugendstil as well as by Baroque visual ideas. In his latest exhibition for Centrepoint, he has compiled artworks with picture cycles from Shakespeare's works as well as visions from the Bible and views of the city of Basel.
There will be a vernissage of the exhibition on April 8 from 18:00-20:00. The exhibition will be on display until May 21, and you're warmly welcome to visit during their regular opening hours:
• Tuesday: 09:00–13:00
• Wednesday: 09:00–13:00
• Thursday: 09:00–17:00
• Friday: 09:00–13:00
• Saturday: 09:00–13:00 (first Saturday of the month only)
Feel free to stop by, enjoy the art, and even have a coffee while you're there.

Website
centrepoint.ch/#nextevents

Where
Centrepoint
Im Lohnhof 8
4051 Basel

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