For Emy n.2

• year: 2012

• size: 218 x 180 x 8 (cm)

• technique: mixed media on wood

• status: available

Painted in 2012, For Emy n.2 This represents the second instalment of the series of the same name, comprising four large panels; a pivotal cycle in the development of Kende’s calligraphic style and in its gradual transformation from an urban practice into contemporary pictorial research.

In this work, the writing further expands its physical presence, occupying the surface with a more intricate rhythm and a particularly intense visual layering. The calligraphic forms overlap, conceal themselves and re-emerge through glazes, erasures and gestural interventions that construct a complex structure, capable of maintaining a balance between spontaneity and compositional organisation.

The monumental scale emphasises the relationship between the mark and the space, transforming the wooden surface into a visual field where the writing takes on an almost architectural dimension. The traces running through the work evoke the processes of accumulation typical of the urban environment, where every intervention leaves a mark destined to interact with those that follow.

As part of the series For EmyThis second panel marks a phase of consolidation in Kende’s artistic practice, in which the language of graffiti is gradually liberated from its textual function to become rhythm, structure and painterly matter. The work bears witness to one of the most significant moments in his output of the early 2010s.