The Flight of the Albatross

This body of work explores the tension between movement and belonging, between mapping and memory. Inspired by cartographic abstraction and spatial deconstruction, The Flight of the Albatross investigates how landscapes—both physical and mental—are fragmented and reassembled through perception. The compositions oscillate between structure and dissolution, evoking the instability of orientation and the subjectivity of place. Through a process of reduction and layering, the works function as visual traces of passage, questioning the permanence of geographical and emotional coordinates.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work explores the relationship between abstraction and perception, distance and memory. While I initially engage with the city’s structure as a compositional pretext, my gaze is never objective—it is filtered through the sensory urgency that drives my pictorial process.

In the early stages, I use black to trace shadows, following the urban morphology as a structural foundation. However, this grid is merely a starting point: as the painting develops, the reference to Google Maps dissolves, and instinct takes over in shaping the pictorial space. The city becomes a visual code, a framework from which I gradually detach to embrace a deeper, more personal language.

The identification with the albatross is not just a literary metaphor, nor an assertion of artistic isolation. It is a visual condition—a gaze from above, distant yet engaged, oscillating between the recognizable and the elusive. Abstraction is not the ultimate goal but rather a necessity to translate the tension between structure and instinct, between mapping and sensitivity.

What I seek is balance: harmony and rhythm. Not representation, but resonance.

ABOUT

“Marco Crispano’s synesthetic experience builds a bridge across multiple perceptions of space, using a variety of tools and inspirations that draw from different artistic expressions.
The serie’s title is deliberately descriptive: the artist identifies himself with an albatross, a massive seabird that holds the record for the widest wingspan among living birds. In this metamorphosis, Crispano pays homage to and embodies the symbolism of Baudelaire’s famous poem, where the poet compares himself to the albatross.
Just as the seabird follows sailors, artists guide us through life’s struggles and emotional complexities, sensing them more deeply than others. This heightened sensitivity allows them to elevate themselves above the world, yet it also imposes a burden that isolates them from the ordinary, condemning them to misunderstanding.

As Crispano explains, his identification with the albatross leads him to trace a perfect perpendicular line to the horizon, allowing him to glide over the world and capture in painting the elements that strike him the most—while keeping a deliberate distance from familiar visual structures and architectural references.
His perspective is entirely zenithal, akin to a satellite view, echoing the principles of Futurist aeropainting, which sought not only vertiginous perspectives but also deliberately distorted and intensified visions. This is in contrast with the Renaissance’s bird’s-eye view, which served a more documentary function.

The abstraction of landscapes into chromatic patterns aligns Crispano’s work with painters like Carla Accardi and Giulio Turcato, particularly in their shared approach to simplifying forms. By stripping compositions of symbolic and allegorical elements, they return painting to a more tangible dimension.
However, what differentiates Crispano from the pioneers of Italian abstraction is the persistent presence of delicate emotionality in his works. His aerial perspective is not just a formal device but a deeply personal search—an attempt to grasp something essential yet elusive. In selecting and painting these fragments of reality, he offers us an intimate glimpse into his own vision.”

Marcella Malagetti