Animal Nitrate by Alessandro Tomassetti

"The sitter for my painting, Animal Nitrate, is a Colombian model, Ricardo Dominguez. We met in Barcelona after he had just finished working fashion week, modeling in both men’s and women’s shows. As my work explores contemporary ideas of masculinity and sensuality, I found his androgyny and the ease with which he expressed it, fascinating. In person, Ricardo is charismatic and intense; one moment chatty and engaging and the next, laser-focused and offering pose after striking pose. I dressed him in an elaborate white shirt that I had custom made for an exhibition in Los Angeles.  Grosgrain ribbon and crochet tendrils escape from underneath the shirt’s epaulettes, mimicking Ricardo’s waist length hair. The shirt, as much as the pose and expression, contributes to a sense of mystery in the painting, one befitting its mysterious sitter." - Alessandro Tomassetti

This work is on loan from a private collection.