Angela Larotonda’s painting is based on a conviction that seems almost radical in contemporary art: color has a reality of its own. It is not illustration, not decoration and not the carrier of a message. It is the event itself. In a present in which art is often legitimized through concepts, narratives or social discourses, Larotonda relies on the immediate power of painting. Her works refuse to be subordinated to an external narrative. They are created from color, movement, material and time. The focus is not on the motif, but on the experience. Not the explanation, but the perception. “Color is an immediate expression of the here and now. Color knows no time and no compromise.” This sentence not only describes her working method, but also the basis of her artistic approach. With Larotonda, color becomes an independent force that eludes any functional appropriation. She illustrates nothing. It does not argue. It asserts its presence. In terms of art history, this position is part of a tradition that is deeply rooted in Italian culture. From the luminous frescoes of Giotto to the Venetian color paintings of Titian to the spatial color experiments of Italian modernism, the idea of an autonomous color runs through the history of art. Color appears here not as an addition to form, but as its origin. Larotonda brings this tradition into the present and translates it into a contemporary, gestural visual language. In doing so, she rejects both decorative seduction and expressive exaggeration. Her pictures move between freedom and structure, between spontaneity and construction. Her training as an architect is evident here. The canvas is not a neutral field, but a space in which forces are organized. Condensations meet empty spaces, movements meet resistance, colorful eruptions meet moments of concentrated calm.
angela larotonda
il colore non si negozia.
color is not negotiable.
It is precisely this tension that makes her works so unique. What appears impulsive at first glance follows a precise inner order. Drip marks, overlays and open canvas surfaces remain visible and document the process of creation without making it the actual subject. The paintings appear free, but never arbitrary. They are open without being indecisive. References to Abstract Expressionism, European Art Informel or artists such as Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler are recognizable, but Larotonda’s painting follows a different path. She is less interested in the gesture as an expression of individual sensitivities than in the ability of color to create its own realities. Her pictures do not tell stories. They create states. In a time characterized by screens, information flows and permanent explanation, this painting defends the autonomy of seeing. It reminds us that meaning does not always have to be formulated and that perception follows its own logic. Angela Larotonda’s works are therefore not illustrations of thoughts. They are manifestations of an attitude. Einer Haltung, die auf die Eigenständigkeit der Malerei vertraut und die Farbe nicht als Mittel zum Zweck begreift, sondern als Ursprung aller Möglichkeiten. Color is not negotiable.
Artist
A>ngela Larotonda
- Newcomer
- High collector potential.
Exhibition
June 2025 Munich, “WILDE MISCHUNG 9”, konsum163 contemporary
Publications
IL COLORE NON SI NEGOZIA, 2026.
163 ONE SIX THREE | art in print Verlag
Angela Larotonda in the studio.
The radicality of color and the break with convention.
The freedom of color. Larotonda’s approach can be understood as a radical form of painting that frees itself from the constraints of content and instead celebrates the pure materiality of color. At a time when art is often intellectually overloaded, his work is a return to direct experience. It takes the world as it is – shrill, loud, chaotic – and transforms it into a visual manifesto. “Color is non-negotiable” is her motto. And indeed: in an age in which colorlessness is often confused with seriousness, her art is a necessary antithesis. It is not just color, it is attitude.
The artist in front of works.
The freedom of color.
Angela larotonda is one of the few artists who have truly understood the radical power of color. Her works are more than paintings – they are provocations, transgressions, experiments. And they are proof that painting, when practiced consistently, can still be a means of change.
Working in progress.
IF I COULD ONLY EXPLAIN IT, 80 x 120 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2026
"Color is a direct expression of the here and now. Color knows no time and no compromise.
IF I COULD ONLY EXPLAIN IT (detail), 80 x 120 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2026
The color as an irrevocable setting.
exhibitions and organic
2026
“Wilde Mischung 9” – konsum163 contemporary – Munich (group exhibition)
2025
Arts Gallery The Heritage – Gassel, Netherlands (group exhibition)
Arts Gallery The Estate – Noordwijk, Netherlands (group exhibition)
“Chaos and Calm” – Neon Bazaar Art Gallery – Stuttgart (group exhibition)
2009
“Dimensione Massima 10 × 12 cm” – FotoGrafia – Festival Internazionale di Roma – Rome, Italy (group exhibition)
“360 Gradi in Arte” – Fondazione Le Monacelle – Matera, Italy (group exhibition)
“The Ultimate Experience” – Al Riwaq Art Space – Manama, Bahrain (group exhibition)
2007
“Essereapparire” – Makenoise Gallery – Rome, Italy (solo exhibition)
2006
Premio Internazionale di Fotografia “Viaggio in Basilicata” (group exhibition)
Angela Larotonda (*1982 in Policoro, Italy) is an Italian painter who now lives and works in Munich. Her artistic development combines different cultural and creative influences resulting from her international life. After studying architecture at the Università La Sapienza in Rome, she devoted herself to photography and visual communication and completed a Master’s degree at the ISFCI in Rome. Additional studies took her to the University of the Arts London, where she deepened her exploration of visual language, perception and visual design.
Alongside her professional work in the international creative and design industry, Larotonda has continuously developed her artistic practice. Stations in Italy, Great Britain and Germany shaped her view of space, structure and communication and still form an essential background to her painting today.
Her works have been shown in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Bahrain, including exhibitions in Rome, Matera, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Munich and international presentations in Manama and the Netherlands. In her painting, Larotonda combines the spatial precision of architectural thinking with the freedom of gestural abstraction, developing an independent position in which color becomes the central carrier of perception, tension and meaning.
