Firetti Contemporary
Colours possess the profound ability to reshape our perceptions, stir emotions, and breathe life into memories, transforming them into a vivid, ever-evolving journey. Woven into the very fabric of our existence, colours infuse everything we encounter with meaning. Beyond mere visual experience, they elevate our spirits and serve as a silent language, expressing the depths of our innermost emotions with nuance and elegance.
Colour Gives Me Life is an exploration of the vibrant energy that color brings to our lives, told through the dynamic works of Ludmilla Radchenko, Rachel K, Ihab Ahmad, Laurent Perbos, Yana Abramova, and Samuele Ventanni. United by their bold use of color as a medium for storytelling, these artists invite viewers into worlds where imagination, memory, and transformation come alive in full spectrum.
For Ludmilla Radchenko, color becomes a vibrant expression of memory and experience. Her works blend photography and digital collage with bold brushstrokes, using striking hues to transform personal stories and ordinary scenes into powerful reflections on life’s richness. Radchenko’s palette is a call to see beyond the everyday, drawing viewers into the emotional resonance of each scene. She presents her iconic series in this show, including Icon Recycling, Women’s Icon Magazine, and Brand Revolution —each series employing recycled materials and pop-culture references to critique consumerism and celebrate influential female figures.
Rachel K brings a playful energy to color, with sculptures crafted from second-hand toys and sustainable materials. Her joyful “happy colors” evoke childhood nostalgia, allowing viewers to rediscover wonder and innocence. Through her vivid, eco-conscious creations, Rachel redefines color as a source of both joy and renewal, linking past and present with a sense of hope.
In Ihab Ahmad’s works, color becomes a language of harmony and unity. With recurring symbols like fish, eyes, and trees, Ahmad uses bold, saturated tones to explore connections between nature and humanity. His work draws viewers into a meditative world where color represents universal truths, guiding us toward inner and outer harmony. Rooted in references to his own childhood experiences in Lebanon, Ahmad’s art captures an innocent, almost dreamlike perspective, inviting viewers to imagine a world untouched by fear or hardship. This childlike quality in his compositions reflects a longing for simplicity and peace amid life’s complexities.
Laurent Perbos adds a classical-meets-contemporary dimension to the exhibition. In his series Antik Basketball, Perbos brings together antique sculptures like those of Apollo, Artemis, Meleagre, or Julien de Médicis with unexpected modern elements, such as affixed basketball covers. This juxtaposition between the timeless elegance of classical statuary and the bold, dynamic nature of modern sports objects embodies a dialogue between eras. By layering vivid colors and contemporary textures onto these works, he breathes new life into ancient symbols, casting them in an energetic, accessible light. His pieces invite viewers to consider how cultural symbols evolve over time and acquire fresh meanings, bridging antiquity with today's visual language and making the classical relevant in a playful, thought-provoking manner.
Yana Abramova invites introspection through her large-scale oil paintings, where color and texture create immersive experiences. Her use of hyper-realistic textures and abstract forms challenges viewers to see beyond surface appearances, using color to evoke the fluidity of emotions and imagination.
Samuele Ventanni redefines space by physically cutting his canvases, integrating color, light, and sound to illustrate the dynamism of time and space. His fragmented compositions reflect the movement from past to future, urging viewers to consider change as an evolving spectrum, where color becomes a bridge to new perspectives.
In Colour Gives Me Life, each artist offers more than a visual display—each piece becomes a narrative, a balm, and a reminder of color’s power to shape our lives and perceptions. The exhibition celebrates color’s transformative essence, encouraging us to see the world with fresh eyes and to find beauty in the extraordinary. Through their mastery of color, Radchenko, Koleilat, Ahmad, Perbos, Abramova, and Ventanni invite us on a journey where art truly breathes life into our view of the world.