Atelier 2020
The legacy of Guernica is the demonstration of this current fragmented and uncertain society. The only certainty left is our home, a shield for arts and passions.
122x92 cm
April 2020
This artwork was realised in Australia where I stayed for 3 months (March-June 2020) due to the inability to travel of this particular historic period. I started working on a first draft once arrived in Darwin, during a period of "voluntary self-isolation" at my son's place, who moved here a while ago. After helping my son to project and realise a dining table made with a grey concrete top and a yellow steel structure, I decided to set up my artistic working area right next to the dining area of the house, which became my temporary atelier.
While looking for inspiration, I started thinking about Picasso and Renato Guttuso, two of my greatest reference artists. From the compositional point of view, in the centre, I was inspired by Guttuso's 1947 "Natura Morta con Scure": the flasks reminded me of my childhood, those early weeks of September spent with my family in Viareggio. During these times I used to help my uncle covering with straw his flasks and demijohns. On the table there are also lemons and prickly pears, fruits of Puglia, my homeland, which brings me closer to Guttuso's Sicily. Finally, in the centre of the table we can find one of my favourite books, "Federico II Imperatore" by Ernst Kantorowicz. The figure of the book represents the culture, which is the basis of knowledge and science; while the figure of Federico II represents the direct link between the culture and my land. During his time Federico II was called “Puer Apuliae” (which means “son of Puglia”, my region) and he was the father of Manfredi (founder of Manfredonia, my hometown).
On the walls there are two artworks, as if they were two paintings owned by the artist. On the right side a detail of "Guernica", one of the greatest works of Picasso: where the bull of that time recalls the pandemic of today; the mangled, wounded horse represents the "canceled" man, struck by the pride that he still cannot discover a cure, the antidote to this evil of our century, Covid-19. The women on the side once again express the despair that reigns in all the homes affected by the evil. The flower that sprouts from the ground remains the open hope in life, in the future! On the left side there is an artwork that takes inspiration from the Aboriginal art, a tribute to this millenary culture that I have discovered in recent years thanks to my travels to Australia. The plant that flourishes in front of the painting and the light, together with the still life on the table and and Guernica, wants to point our beliefs to the return to respect Earth and Nature.
This work is the demonstration that one's thoughts and passions can be packed and change latitude but not intensity, I brought Puglia with me in many references. Atelier 2020 also makes me think about Van Gogh's room for colours and style. A room away from his hometown but still full of references from his homeland.
ITALIAN VERSION
