Figures - Emptiness
Some of the artworks on view are available for purchase. For purchase inquiries or further information, please contact the artist directly at: p_terdich.art@paoloterdich.it
Figures – Emptiness
This project began in the early 2000s from a profound inner urgency—a deep need to give visual form to the emotional world of contemporary humanity. My work centers on introspection, identity, and silences that, more than words, reveal fragility and truth. The figures I paint are often solitary, suspended in timeless atmospheres, embodying the tension between what is visible and what is felt, between apparent stillness and inner unrest. In a culture dominated by speed and superficiality, my paintings offer an invitation to slow down, to reflect. I create spaces of suspension where viewers can listen and observe without distraction. My paintings do not provide answers but open questions—shifting the gaze from the external to the internal, from noise to silence. Inspiration arises from essential places, small details, absorbed faces, and water reflections that mirror memory—reflecting, distorting, and concealing. Light plays a fundamental role: evanescent yet vibrant, it sculpts volumes fluidly and amplifies emotion. After years of exploration, I have developed a pictorial language that does not describe but evokes—a surreal, intimate realism that transforms reality into poetic experience, rich with mystery and contemplation. Each work emerges from a deeply personal and authentic urgency. It is through this refined voice, shaped over time, that these stories gain both strength and delicate beauty.
Few reviews of the “Figures – Emptiness” project
“When you look at Terdich’s works, a sensibility akin to Magical Realism comes to the fore, with figures suspended within essential, pared-down spaces, imbued with a quiet, introspective presence. I still vividly recall the first time I encountered those paintings in person: their suspended atmosphere, the delicate play of light across faces and objects, and the extraordinary emotional depth they conveyed. It is a path which, though not explicitly influenced by Felice Casorati, reveals affinities with his exploration of evocative stillness and compositional harmony. In Terdich’s work, light becomes more than mere illumination; it is a medium that sculpts volumes and forms, bestowing upon them a subtle, metaphysical quality. The atmosphere it generates amplifies the sense of expectation and mystery, giving his paintings a dimension that transcends the visible and invites silent contemplation… In Paolo Terdich’s paintings, a profound sense of solitude and introspection emerges with remarkable clarity, elements that surface with extraordinary force. The figures he portrays, enveloped in atmospheres of suspended stillness, are imbued with a poetic and mysterious aura — presences that seem to dwell on the threshold between reality and dream, suspended in time and space, offering the most attentive viewer an opportunity for personal, intimate interpretation. To observe his work, to witness its evolution, is for me a personal and intellectual enrichment of rare value and deep emotion“. (Alberto Moioli)
“Overall, figures predominate — portrayed alone, each enclosed within itself, seemingly confined in a space where the background is often pared down to pure colour. The characters, enigmatic and introspective, are frequently caught in moments of reflection, conveying a subtle restlessness, through which an inner torment quietly emerges.” (Carlo Francou)
“Paolo Terdich combines his exceptional technique, grounded in the figurative-surrealist tradition, with a profound interest in the subject matter. His vision transcends the visible, the dream precedes the image, and the mirage reveals the abyss. What draws the artist is this obscure mass, which both conceals and transforms in its hypnotic secrecy — hiding, yet allowing glimpses only through the most delicate psychological introspection.” (Daniele Radini Tedeschi)