Lorenzo Pompa’s main theme is the conditio humana, the readily observable horrifying human tendency towards violence, unrestraint, brutality and excesses. But also other evident human qualities, such as greatness of spirit, heroism and a yearning for beauty. To explore the field of tension between these poles Lorenzo Pompa has developed allegories of biomorphic bodies that appear to act according to the laws of their human psyche.

The title MORE & BETTER LIES is a play on the growing overload of information sources currently transforming the purportedly clear line between true and false into a vast gray area. Where in his previous exhibition in 2023 Pompa set the “scenes” of his pictures in a theatrical staging, the artist now opens his view to a broad plane, to landscapes with a wide swath of sky. But these landscapes, too, are more like flatlands, plains on which human activities have left their mark.

The entire exhibition space again becomes an installation: a large-format painting stands, extending into the room. It corresponds with the works on the walls and the three pieces of sculpture, and allows a view of both its sides. The rear side, its image facing the viewer, can be perceived as a wall and also as a gateway. This prompts a state of overwhelming curiosity in which we feel compelled to look right through the picture before we’ve even circled ‘round to see the other side.

Engaging with the works of Lorenzo Pompa sharpens the senses. His utterly singular artistic standpoint demands empathy and presents codes that cannot really be cracked without knowledge of history. Pompa processes history in his works. He couples events of the past with those of the contemporary era. But his artistic language is of today, of the present. His aesthetics are often reminiscent of computer games, but are also timeless, in an indeterminate way. One can’t help thinking of Giotto or of Philip Guston’s figurative paintings of the 60s and later years. One is reminded of both painters at once. The 600 years that separate them make no matter, because, as in Greek mythology, here, too, the great themes of humanity serve as a springboard for attempting to get to grips with human psychology.

In this sense Lorenzo Pompa’s works are also political, all the more so because they are not narrative or illustrative. They sound out the possibilities of art and provide evidence that they are, in fact, inexhaustible.

Lorenzo Pompa (b.1962) grew up in Rome where he first studied interior design and architecture.
After moving to Germany, he studied sculpture at the Düsseldorf Academy under Georg Herold, from 1996 to 2003. He lives and works in Düsseldorf