Nicola Verlato

The practice of veiling changed my view. You only know only because I say so. My soul is invisible, revealed some in the blog, but, as Aquinas said about his eight million words, they are straw...to be looked at and burned. In this painting nothing is veiled, except its reality.

Nicola Verlato, A Whiter Shade of Pale, 2012-13
From the curator
Verlato’s work is video-game-meets-high-Baroque; he uses 3D animation technology to assist in the drawing preparation of his fantastical scenes that he paints in oils.
Here we have the transformation of Michael Jackson. The little boy is trampled underfoot while three Michaels of varying ages struggle to reach for the pinnacle of Death. The forest animals look on in both amazement and disinterest.
​The gnarly twisting tree and swirl of bodies remind us of Bernini’s statues of Persephone or Apollo and Daphne, while the orange glow in the background suggests other worldly forces.
What I see
It's no accident that there is a double halo around the skull. It suggests two deaths: that of the soul and that of the body.
https://narrativepainting.net/nicola-verlato-a-whiter-shade-of-pale-2012-13/
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