Julian Schnabel

Schnabel’s works often refer to life situations or personal episodes. In this case, the inscription ALI BORIS echoes an episode from the painter’s private memory. His small son Olmo had been struck by a scene in the Disney film “Dumbo”, in which the circus caravan is ready to set off to continue its tour and the train whistles “All aboard!”. The little boy, who was not yet able to speak correctly, simply repeated the words exclaiming “Ali boris!” The mixture of images, logos and words, together with curved lines which develop like elastic filaments, are recurrent features of Schnabel’s painting; like a diver he continually dives into and out of this fluid matter made up of stories, shapes, thoughts and imagination.