Oronzo Toro

Oronzo Toro, known as Rbl, is an Italian contemporary artist whose practice explores the relationship between colour, gesture, memory and emotion. Moving between abstraction and recognisable imagery, his paintings transform everyday experiences, human relationships, natural environments and cultural references into layered visual narratives.

Rbl's works are driven by an intuitive relationship with colour and gesture. Lines, fragments, textures and overlapping forms are used not simply to describe a subject, but to translate its emotional atmosphere. A city can become a field of signs; the sea becomes movement and memory; a human figure can dissolve into rhythm; an everyday object can acquire an unexpected symbolic dimension.

His practice embraces both spontaneity and reflection, often combining expressive marks with recognisable elements that give the viewer an initial point of entry while leaving space for personal interpretation. This tension between recognition and abstraction is central to his artistic language.

Across different bodies of work, Rbl returns to recurring themes including movement, relationships, memory, nature, identity, urban life, music and imagination. Rather than following a single visual formula, he appro...

My work begins with an image, a feeling, a memory or simply a gesture. I am interested in the moment when something recognisable starts to change — when a person becomes movement, a city becomes rhythm, or the sea becomes memory.

Colour is not merely a visual element in my paintings; it is a way of thinking and feeling. I build surfaces through layers, marks, interruptions and contrasts, allowing the image to emerge gradually rather than determining everything in advance.

I move freely between abstraction and figuration because I do not see them as opposites. Recognition gives the viewer a point of entry; abstraction creates the space for personal interpretation.

My subjects often come from ordinary experiences: relationships, distance, desire, nature, music, cities and fragments of everyday life. Through painting, these experiences become something less literal and more universal.

I want the viewer to discover something different each time they return to a work — an image, an emotion, a memory or simply a new relationship between colours and forms.

- On Tour London X-mas edition at "The Crypt Gallery" Euston road, London, from 17 to 21 December 2022

- Permanent exibition at the "Galleria Merlino" in Florence

- "Irene Hamilton Gallery" in Cannes from 5 to 10 September 2023

- "V Biennale Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea della VERSILIA" from 28 September to 3 October 2023