Details:
① Artwork:
Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
This painting’s title references the ABBA song of the same name, in which the speaker recalls fond memories of times gone by as a spectral presence passing through. In this case, the artist links the singer’s memory to the cutting of the fish pictured in the painting, which stands as a symbol of the artist’s own surgical operations. A consistent motif in Borgo’s work is positioning the fish as a predecessor to the modern human, alluding to evolution as a path for transformation and liberation.
Linus Borgo’s work deals with themes surrounding spiritual elevation, identity, and reclamation of the body. Much of Borgo’s work is grounded in a life-altering accident he experienced at the age of 18, having just begun his BFA at Rhode Island School of Design: After climbing to the top of a building with his friend, he made contact with electrical generator equipment and was shocked with 11,000 volts, leading to 11 surgeries, including the amputation of his left hand. Grappling with the new physical and metaphysical limits of his body—a journey that echoes his experience as a transgender man—the artist makes work exploring the anatomy of the human body through lavish and vibrant compositions that recall the techniques and themes of the Renaissance masters.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Linus Borgo’s work deals with themes surrounding spiritual elevation, identity, and reclamation of the body. Immersive in their scale and content, his paintings oscillate between sublime depictions of the aftermath of trauma and quotidian moments of daily life in the city. Much of Borgo’s work is grounded in a life-altering accident he experienced at the age of 18, having just begun his BFA at Rhode Island School of Design: After climbing to the top of a building with his friend, he made contact with electrical generator equipment and was shocked with 11,000 volts, leading to 11 surgeries, including the amputation of his left hand. Grappling with the new physical and metaphysical limits of his body—a journey that echoes his experience as a transgender man—he often makes work exploring the anatomy of the human body with near scientific accuracy. The artist’s lavish compositions are marked by their elegant arrangement of bodies, vibrant color palette, and incorporation of spiritual themes. Borgo, who is of Italian descent, connects this interest to his childhood summers in Italy, where he frequented museums and absorbed the techniques and themes of the Renaissance masters, adapting them to his contemporary world.
Linus Borgo was born in 1995 in Stamford, CT, and lives in New York, NY. He received his MFA from Columbia University in New York, NY (2022) and his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI (2018).
Borgo has mounted solo exhibitions at Yossi Milo in New York, NY (2023), and Steve Turner in Los Angeles, CA (2022).
He has participated in recent group exhibitions at the Green Family Art Foundation in Dallas, TX (2023, 2022); the Lenfest Center for the Arts at Columbia University in New York, NY (2022); Anne Wright Wilson Fine Arts Gallery in Georgetown, KY (2021); Zurcher Gallery in New York, NY (2020); and others.
Borgo’s work resides in the permanent collections of the Akron Art Museum in Akron, OH, and the Green Family Art Foundation in Dallas, TX.
This painting’s title references the ABBA song of the same name, in which the speaker recalls fond memories of times gone by as a spectral presence passing through. In this case, the artist links the singer’s memory to the cutting of the fish pictured in the painting, which stands as a symbol of the artist’s own surgical operations. A consistent motif in Borgo’s work is positioning the fish as a predecessor to the modern human, alluding to evolution as a path for transformation and liberation.More
- Unframed
- Signed, Titled and Dated Verso
3:00 PM, Jul 11, 2024.
