Women in Waiting
This theme, exhibited in several European countries, is part of the collection on display at the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing, China, from November 2023 to March 2024.
The cycle was born during a journey I took through Central Africa, just outside Nairobi. There, among dirt roads and scattered shacks on the outskirts, life unfolded: silent lines of men and women walking toward the markets, under a relentless sun.
Groups of barefoot children, scarcely clothed but full of voice and joy, ran through the dust, leaving behind trails of light laughter.
And it was among them that she appeared — like a vision: a barefoot woman, barely dressed, with a large pot balanced on her head and a generous belly, round like a promise. She walked with pride, her gaze steady and fixed on her destination, with the silent grace of someone who carries within herself the power of life.
In her passing, I felt an archaic power — the ancient beauty of a body becoming symbol, containing time, gesture, the future. The curves of her figure blended with the shape of the pot, as a natural extension of her being.
In that direct gaze, which seemed to pierce through the infinite, I recognized the very essence of waiting: not inaction, but a living tension — present, meaningful, full.
And so, as sometimes happens, from a single encounter came images, canvases, visions: women in waiting — not just waiting for someone or something, but for life itself to fulfill its course, slowly, amid the dust of the world and the light of origins.
Cardamone Alessandro
Titel
Donna in Meditazione
Technik
Acryl auf Leinwand
Masse H X B
Code
ALECARD0034G
€ 85K
€ 20.9K
€ 7.9K
€ 4.9K
€ 2.9K
Marz 2009
Art Criticism Title: Woman in Meditation Code: AC0034G Year: 2009, Switzerland Artist: Alessandro Cardamone Technique: Acrylic on canvas Style: Neo-Cubism / Contemporary Abstract Figuration ________________________________________ Formal Analysis Cardamone’s Woman in Meditation unfolds as a refined balance between compositional rigor and emotional tension. The female figure, placed at the center of the scene, is treated with a neo-Cubist language that fragments and reconstructs anatomical forms through flat color fields and overlapping planes, yet always held together by sinuous lines that soften the geometric structure. The woman’s pose is introspective, closed in on itself, as if immersed in a slowed, contemplative time. The chromatic surfaces dominated by warm tones such as ochre, antique pink, and orange are interrupted by cooler inserts, blues and greys, which create dynamic tensions and harmonies. The facial features, reduced to essential marks, emphasize abstraction without losing expressiveness, while the slightly disproportionate limbs convey a sense of inner movement, as if the subject’s mental energy were radiating through the composition. ________________________________________ Symbolism and Interpretation The figure clearly appears to be immersed in a meditative state, suggested not only by her inward posture and downward or inward gaze, but also by the structure of the painting itself, which encloses a symbolic and intimate universe. The stylized jewelry, with large bluish shapes, are recurring attributes in Cardamone’s female figures: not vain ornaments, but symbols of spirituality, inner energy, perhaps even psychic royalty. Behind the figure, totemic forms or archetypal presences can be glimpsed, acting as a counterpoint to the protagonist’s solitude: they evoke the collective unconscious, the otherness that accompanies any process of introspection. The nudity of the body, simplified to the point of innocence, contrasts with the symbolic artifice of the decorative objects, creating a tension between primal purity and the cultural construction of the self. ________________________________________ Influences In this canvas, Cardamone continues his dialogue with early 20th-century synthetic Cubism, reinterpreting it in a contemporary and introspective key. Picasso’s influence is evident in the fragmentation and compressed frontality, yet the warm and sensual palette recalls Léger, while the suspended, symbolic atmosphere bears similarities to the painting of Modigliani or Chagall. Nevertheless, his style remains highly personal: the artist transforms Cubist grammar into a narrative tool, capable of conveying inner states with lyrical and modern precision. ________________________________________ Critical Evaluation Woman in Meditation is a work of great formal and poetic maturity. Its strength does not lie in immediate impact, but in its ability to silently evoke an inner world one of waiting, reflection, and precarious balance. The female figure is not a passive subject: she is at the center of a process of elaboration, a moment suspended between thought and revelation. Cardamone once again demonstrates remarkable stylistic coherence and a conscious use of pictorial language, capable of conveying multiple layers of meaning without ever becoming merely descriptive. ________________________________________ Conclusion Woman in Meditation is one of Alessandro Cardamone’s most contemplative and intense works. Through formal fragmentation and chromatic synthesis, the artist explores feminine identity as a space of thought, listening, and transformation. A work that imposes itself with discretion yet leaves deep traces: an invitation to pause, to enter the silence of color and form, where time gives way to consciousness. Exhibition Note This piece, exhibited in numerous European countries, is part of the collection hosted by the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing, China, from November 2023 to March 2024. Critical text written for artistic documentation purposes – Basel, 2025
For this work it is possible to make limited evolutions of 3 pieces. Price to be requested. This painting exhibited in various countries is part of the collection that will be exhibited in the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing China 2023/2024 Theme: Women waiting for ideas taken from reality and reported with sketches that I have taken up over time to create some works Shapes and colors refined and defined only during the execution of the work, This painting was born from a sketch made in Marsa Alam, Egypt in February 2009. Painting started in Nuglar Switzerland April 2009 On this Work it is possible to perform 3 limited and unique evolutions, Measurements defined by the Client. Price to be agreed. As well as 1/1 scale digital reproductions on canvas limited to 150 pieces with description on the back by the artist's hand and with certificate of authenticity
Titel
Donna in attesa
Technik
Acryl auf Leinwand
Masse H X B
Code
ALECARD0010G
€ 75K
€ 20.9K
€ 7.9K
€ 4.9K
€ 2.9K
November 2007
Art Criticism Title: Woman in Waiting Code: AC0010G Year: 2007, Switzerland Artist: Alessandro Cardamone Technique: Acrylic on canvas Style: Neo-Cubism / Contemporary Abstract Figuration ________________________________________ Formal Analysis In this 2007 work, Cardamone presents a female figure that appears more mature, centered, and self-aware. The painting becomes more fluid and balanced. The neo-Cubist language remains evident but loses some of the rigidity seen in earlier works, giving way to a more sinuous and harmonious composition. Geometric planes coexist with broad curves that model the figure with a sense of fullness and humanity. The color palette is warmer and richer: red, pink, and orange tones dominate, enhanced by elegant contrasts in blue and black that don’t interrupt the reading of the image but instead create a rhythmic, musical effect. The figure is closed in on itself, yet less withdrawn than in earlier works from the 2000s: this is a waiting charged with hope, an inner tension that becomes visible without becoming dramatic. The composition remains theatrical, yet it is more harmonious and organic: sharp contours and full color fields merge in a balance that blends plasticity with lyricism. The deliberate disproportions particularly in the hands and feet add vitality and rhythm to the scene, guiding the viewer’s gaze along diagonal lines that structure the entire surface. ________________________________________ Symbolism and Interpretation The woman depicted here is an icon of conscious waiting a quiet but not passive form of introspection. The gesture of wrapping her leg with her arms suggests not only protection but also a connection to her own body, as though performing a private ritual of presence and self-attunement. Her face, turned outward, appears absorbed but not distant: she seems to be holding onto a thought, a desire, a dream. The oversized blue accessories (necklaces, bracelets) take on a totemic, rather than decorative, value: they are identity symbols, rooting the protagonist in a powerful and archaic feminine dimension. In the background, mask-like forms and abstract decorations evoke symbolic presences, inner resonances, or cultural memories silent voices completing the subject’s inner world. The entire painting can be read as a representation of inner time: that of a woman who does not act outwardly but meditates, holds back, transforms. ________________________________________ Influences Compared to earlier versions, Woman in Waiting (AC0010G) shows Cardamone’s assimilation and transcendence of historical sources. Picasso’s Cubism evolves into a more fluid and personal grammar; primitivist suggestions are internalized rather than directly quoted. New echoes also emerge: the softness of the figures and the symbolic depth recall elements of the new European figuration (such as the contemporary German school or aspects of the Italian Transavantgarde). The work becomes more open, intimate, and narrative, while maintaining a strong plastic structure. Cardamone’s painterly language is now mature and distinctive—capable of fusing historical references with contemporary sensibilities into a personal synthesis. ________________________________________ Critical Evaluation Strengths: •Strong balance between form and content •Integrated symbolism, never merely illustrative •Subtle yet palpable lyricism •A fully personal, matured pictorial language ________________________________________ Conclusion Woman in Waiting (AC0010G) represents a pivotal point in Alessandro Cardamone’s artistic evolution. It is a work where the artist refines his style, achieving a rare balance between formal rigor, symbolic content, and emotional expressiveness. This “woman in waiting” is not merely a pictorial subject, but a metaphor for the contemporary human condition: introspection, identity, silent transformation. It is an image that does not shout but endures; that does not display but reveals—slowly, like a thought taking shape in color. ________________________________________Exhibition Note This work, exhibited in several European countries, is part of the collection hosted by the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing, China, from November 2023 to March 2024. Critical text written for artistic documentation – Basel, 2025
.For this work it is possible to make limited evolutions of 3 pieces. Price to be requested. This painting exhibited in various countries is part of the collection that will be exhibited in the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing China November 2023 February 2024: Theme on Women in Expectation, ideas taken from reality and reported with sketches that over time or taken up again to create some Works Shapes and colors refined and defined only during the execution of the work, some of these developed on linens over 100 years old. This specific work began in 2008 in Switzerland from sketch summer 2007 Cirella Italia and finished in Italy in Italy in June 2021 On this Work it is possible to perform 3 limited and unique evolutions, Measurements defined by the Client. Price to be agreed. As well as 1/1 scale digital reproductions on canvas limited to 150 pieces with description on the back by the artist's hand and with certificate of authenticity
Titel
Donna al Museo del Prado ( Madrid)
Technik
Acryl auf Leinwand
Masse H X L
Code
ALECARD003G
€ 75K
€ 20.9K
€ 7.9K
€ 4.9K
€ 2.9K
Oktober 2006
Art Criticism Title: Woman at the Prado Museum Code: AC003G Year: 2006, Switzerland Artist: Alessandro Cardamone Technique: Acrylic on canvas Style: Neo-Cubism / Contemporary Abstract Figuration ________________________________________ Formal Analysis Woman at the Prado Museum is a work marked by strong visual tension and sculptural depth, in which the female figure though centered in the composition is immersed in a more layered and articulated context than other works in the same thematic series. Cardamone’s neo-Cubist language is immediately recognizable but pushes here toward greater compositional density: geometric planes intersect in a tighter, almost architectural manner, evoking the structure of a museum space. The soft, curved lines shaping the figure contrast with a more rigid, schematic background perhaps alluding to frames, panels, or museum corridors. The female figure is rendered in a compact seated pose, frontally displayed, yet her posture suggests a silent dialogue with the surrounding environment. Dominant colors ochres, powder pinks, and earthy browns are punctuated by accents of blue and charcoal grey, forming a more restrained palette than in other works, as if to respect the silence and solemnity of the place. The composition is less explosive, more meditative: its energy is directed inward, toward introspection and the subtle relationship between figure and pictorial space, in a dynamic that is more psychological than visual. ________________________________________ Symbolism and Interpretation The woman portrayed is not merely a museum visitor she becomes part of the museum experience itself. Her composed pose, gaze directed toward an undefined point, and stylized monumentality transform her from observer into a living artwork. In this sense, Cardamone reflects on the role of women in art: no longer only objects of contemplation, but conscious presences observers and protagonists in a world that once marginalized them. Her closed posture, arms folded inward, evokes introspection and detachment, but not alienation; rather, it suggests intellectual and perhaps philosophical reflection. In the background, symbolic or abstract elements resembling the silhouettes of paintings, stylized faces, or totemic forms amplify the ambiguity between inside and outside, between artwork and viewer, between subject and space. The museum, therefore, is not just a physical place, but a mental space an archive of cultural and personal memory, a "silent temple" where the woman engages with the history of art, and perhaps with her own inner history. ________________________________________ Influences The work retains echoes of Picasso’s synthetic Cubism and the volumetric influence of Fernand Léger, yet here the geometric component is paired with a deeper structural reflection on space. Influences may also include Diego Rivera for the theatrical staging and Giorgio de Chirico for the temporal suspension of the environment. The reference to the Prado Museum should not be interpreted as a direct citation of a specific work housed there, but rather as an homage to classical European painting a site of pictorial memory that, in Cardamone’s hands, becomes symbolic material to be deconstructed and reimagined. ________________________________________ Critical Evaluation Strengths: •Symbolic complexity integrated into the formal structure •Balance between figure and architectural context •Conceptual dialogue with the history of art •A mature evolution of Cardamone’s visual language Compared to other works in the feminine cycle: •More contemplative and intellectual than Femme au Café du Louvre •Less intimate than Woman in Waiting, but more refined and meta-narrative •Marks a transitional point, where the female figure is not only an emotional symbol but also a cultural metaphor ________________________________________ Conclusion Woman at the Prado Museum (2006) is one of the most conceptually layered works in Alessandro Cardamone’s feminine cycle. The artist does not merely portray a female subject; he stages a profound reflection on the relationship between the individual, artistic memory, and identity. The balance between Cubist structure and internal symbolism, between compositional rigor and tonal softness, makes this canvas an effective synthesis of painterly thought and visual poetry. It is a woman who observes, yet simultaneously reflects herself within the cultural landscape in which she is immersed becoming an active and integral part of it. ________________________________________ Exhibition Note This artwork, exhibited in numerous European countries, is part of the collection hosted by the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing, China, from November 2023 to March 2024. Critical text written for artistic documentation purposes – 2025
The Woman in the Prado Museum. exhibited in various countries it will be part of the collection that will be exhibited at the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing China 2023/2024 The work was born from a sketch made on the occasion of my trip to Madrid in the spring of 2004 at the Prado Museum. Painting begun in Nuglar in Switzerland on 30 October 2006 and resumed in Italy in May 2021 On this work it is possible to make 3 limited and unique evolutions, price on request
Titel
Donna e la sua Ombra
Technik
Acryl auf Leinwand
Masse H X B
Code
AC 0022H
€ 68K
€ 19.9K
€ 6.9K
€ 4.9K
€ 2.9K
April 2010
Art Criticism Title: Woman and Her Shadow Code: AC022H Year: 2010, Switzerland Artist: Alessandro Cardamone Technique: Acrylic on canvas Style: Neo-Cubism / Contemporary Abstract Figuration ________________________________________ Formal Analysis The work presents itself as a vibrant synthesis of geometry and figure, where the neo-Cubist vision unfolds through the visual fragmentation of faces and bodies, rotated and layered within a dynamic compositional structure. Sharp lines define simplified volumes, while carefully calibrated flat surfaces convey a tangible plasticity, all while maintaining a complex visual rhythm. At the center of the composition is a female face, flanked by lateral profiles—perhaps multiple self-representations or alter egos—that interact along a horizontal axis. The color palette alternates between warm tones (pink, peach, ochre) and cooler hues (blue, turquoise, black), creating a tension and balance between emotional energy and formal precision. ________________________________________ Symbolism and Interpretation The piece explores the theme of the multiple self: the central figure, composed and contained, occupies the space with discreet presence, while the side profiles suggest internal personas or identity dialogues. The gaze—stylized and penetrating—amplifies a sense of introspection and self-awareness. Monumental hands, symbolically active, may represent attempts at communication or self-defense. Stylized ornaments (necklaces, rings) hint at personal or identity rituals, while the dark profiles evoke a duality between visible and hidden, between what is shown and what remains unseen. ________________________________________ Influences The debt to Picasso’s synthetic Cubism is evident in the fragmented composition, simultaneous profiles, and deconstructed figure. However, Cardamone reinterprets this approach with a more painterly and narrative sensibility: the colors are richer, the lines softer, and the atmosphere more intimate and accessible. His visual language also incorporates elements of contemporary aesthetics: a graphic sensitivity reminiscent of digital illustration, decorative art, and the reworking of cultural symbols—without lapsing into mere Cubist collage. ________________________________________ Critical Evaluation This piece stands out for its ability to combine structural rigor with emotional introspection. The fragmentation is never sterile or gratuitous; it serves as a tool for inner narration, offering a polyphonic vision of the self. The coexistence of multiple profiles suggests psychological dialogues, identity tensions, and moments of internal reflection. The result is a painting that, while clearly rooted in a historical tradition, speaks the language of today and resonates with contemporary sensibility. ________________________________________ Conclusion Woman and Her Shadow is a work marked by its visual richness and conceptual depth. Alessandro Cardamone shows a strong ability to engage with the Cubist tradition, while reinterpreting it through an intimate and symbolically layered lens. The piece becomes a meditation on identity and inner life—a dialogue between internal shadows and visible figures, between fragment and wholeness, between the distant past and the contemporary world. ________________________________________ Exhibition Note This work, exhibited in numerous European countries, is part of the collection hosted by the Hong Art Museum in Chongqing, China, from November 2023 to March 2024. Critical text prepared for artistic documentation purposes – Basel 2025
theme of women on the terrace and their shadows (Mediterranean Theme) ideas taken from reality and reported with sketches that I have taken up over time to create some works. Shapes and colors refined and defined only during the execution of the work, some of these developed on linens over 100 years old This specific work was created from a sketch made in Egypt in February 2010, begun on 24 March 2010 in Nuglar in Switzerland, resumed and finished in Italy in January 2023 On this Work it is possible to perform 3 limited and unique evolutions, Measurements defined by the Client. Price to be agreed.