Ronald Ventura

The painting is in good condition. The skin tone of the figure is slightly less yellow in reality but the colours of the catalogue illustration are overall quite accurate, although the image does not completely capture the actual painting's fine details. The painting appears much richer in reality.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Ventura prefers to paint children with eyes shut. Doing thus, he introduces dialectics - an empty black vision against a cluttered dirty white environment; quiet contemplation against chaos. He banks on discord between signs to heighten tension within the frame. Ventura plays with aggression and stretches it over every thesis and antithesis. The little vermins, purposely annoying the child by playing musical instruments just outside his ear, are wearing gas masks. With their mouths actually covered, they create a deafening silence. A winged figure casually drops a bomb while a perverted bronze one politely makes his way through the child's parted limbs. Both pertain to a tender brutality, a paradox much like the phantom misery of a fading image of a car crash on the terrain. Or the heavy lightness of the clouds at the background with the consistency of clots of thick paint. These are dripping while other parts are transforming into angry fists. The confused violence of the worldly preying on the praying child is relentless.

But he is determined to resist. This is inertia - the fight to stay as is and in line. Contrary to myth, it was not just his lying that made Pinocchio's nose grow. It was stress. Pity but laud this child, forced to grow his nose into a form even worse than that of the proverbial lying toy. Its structure reveals a quiet violence within - each offshoot branch a disruption of resistance, each bend a manifestation of trauma. These protrusions defy but just under the child's head is another story. We see him clutching at his chest in consternation with his left hand as it, slowly, goes down to the demands of his strangely aged and lined gut. His resolve and reverie simply cannot hold any longer. Desire is setting in. He is, finally, unfortunately, turning human.