Marco Stefanucci was born in Rome in 1970.

The nameless faces of history hold the deepest of secrets. If you think of all who have come before us most have been forgotten, some living on only in the discarded vintage photographs found within antique shops of today and others, a distant memory trapped in time. These are the thoughts that come to mind when I look at the portraits of Marco Stefanucci, who captures a sense of forgotten history that hearkens back to the innovations of thought during the Renaissance period. The artist (1970) lives and works in Rome, Italy and graduated from La Sapienza University in Contemporary Art History. In an era that values modernist architecture and design, I really enjoy the feeling of antiquity he conveys in his portraits.

Each piece looks and has the feeling of an aged painting that has stood the test of time. Stefanucci has focused primarily on portraiture however he also explores the world of abstraction, creating a metamorphosis between the two. Stefanucci encases his figures in a black background, with the figure almost emerging from the shadows and conveying the feeling of isolation or loneliness. Even in Stefanucci’s abstract work I feel he is displaying more of a subconscious portrait.

Portraiture is always a very telling subject matter whether to mark someone’s place in history and be remembered, or to display a person’s deeper sensibility. In cases where the portrait is fictional and the artist did not choose to depict a particular person, I can’t help but feel Marco is showing us the many
faces of himself. To know ones self is the greatest of challenges in life and art has often been the place we choose to figure that out.
Amanda Young