Common Matter
In his new series, Common Matter, Anthony Tremmaglia draws on his ancestral heritage, weaving together the passionate legacy of Greco-Roman sculpture with his own contemporary lived experience. Through these works, the artist reflects on love—both shared and lost—with those closest to him. Rather than dwell on absence, Tremmaglia chooses to celebrate connection, drawing poignant parallels between past and present.
With Common Matter, Tremmaglia builds bridges to monumental achievements in art history, such as Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne. He believes that the human experience is timeless, echoing across centuries, and his work seeks to uncover those echoes. Like classical sculpture, his paintings explore the taming of nature—transforming roughness into refined beauty—while maintaining the illusion of flatness on the painted surface.
His depictions of distorted flesh, rendered in chalk, paint, and charcoal, evoke the deep passions found in ancient narratives. Remaining rooted in his signature figurative landscapes, Tremmaglia deepens his practice through the integration of natural minerals—volcanic and otherwise—sourced from the regions where he lives in Canada. In this series, these minerals move from being mere materials to taking center stage. In several large, abstracted pieces, the mineral itself becomes the subject. Where in earlier works minerals were used as resources, here they seem to animate the painting, bringing it to life. New elements and intense, luminous hues are layered with methodical precision as Tremmaglia continues his exploration of the intersection of light, form, and elemental matter—all within a single surface.