French Mixed Media Painting on Paper No. 04 by Angel Darisio

A French mixed media painting on paper by Angel Darisio, conceived as a double-sided work with two distinct compositions held within a single frame.

One side is built around deep rose, mauve, plum, and blue-gray tones. Layers of pigment overlap in broad washes and gestural marks, with darker passages gathering around the edges and more muted color emerging through the center.

Turned over, the palette shifts completely. Saturated reds, burnt orange, and golden yellow cover the surface in energetic, repeated strokes, with scattered darker marks breaking through the warmer ground. The layered application of pigment leaves both sides richly textured, preserving the movement of Darisio’s hand across the paper. The artist’s name, “Angel Darisio,” is visible on the work.

A simple natural oak frame and dark rubber band for hanging allow the painting to remain exposed rather than enclosed, complementing the immediacy of the painted surface. The construction also makes its double-sided character integral to the way the piece is displayed: either composition can become the front, and the work can be hung horizontally or vertically.

About the Artist
Angel Darisio (born 1951) is a Franco-Italian artist whose work bridges abstraction, writing, and material experimentation. Emerging in the late 1970s, Darisio developed a visual language grounded in the dialogue between gesture and structure — where paint, pigment, and the trace of the hand become a form of written expression.

Working across painting, works on paper, and installation, Darisio’s compositions explore the tension between surface and depth, silence and inscription. His practice reflects the broader European movement of lyrical abstraction and concrete poetry, where the mark itself becomes both symbol and texture.

In 1992, the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence presented Darisio’s exhibition Œuvres Écrites, in dialogue with Italian artist Franco Beltrametti. The exhibition highlighted his meditative approach to abstraction — layered, chromatic fields that evoke palimpsests of thought and memory.

Darisio’s works have circulated through French, Italian, and British galleries, including presentations with Streett Marburg & Charlotte Casadéjus (London) and Proantic (Paris). His pieces from the 1970s–1990s — such as Calligram and the Œuvres Écrites series — are recognized for their balance of restraint and emotion, situating him among the lineage of European painters who merged art and language into a single poetic gesture.