2023 (2000)
Atrabile
A cathartic painting started during a 'black bile' period completed 23yrs later.
This is painting I did at 23. It’s called Atrabile [black bile] ’cause, in the Hippocratic medicine, is one of the four humours of the human body, connected to the ‘melancholic’ temperament. It represents the state of depression and disorientation I plummeted into for quite a long period back then.
![Atrabile (2000) 2022, first version still uncomplete.](https://tommasofagioli.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Atrabile-2000-2022-Total-white-no-crayons.webp)
Atrabile (2000) 2022, first version still uncomplete.
I felt lost and yet vital, I guess this image expresses these feelings quite accurately: a great expanse of snow, a dark peaky mountain in the horizon, a bloody sky or maybe on fire in the background.
Making art was totally far from my dreams or purposes, yet I needed a way to express this malaise and painting came in handy and naturally. I now completed it with coloured scribbles, representing a new cycle and perhaps a reconnection with my “inner child” and made some variation studies.
![Profile Atrabile (2000) 2022 - finally completed with crayons scribbles.](https://tommasofagioli.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Profile-Atrabile-2000-2022-Total-png-copia.webp)
Profile Atrabile (2000) 2022 – finally completed with crayons scribbles.