Rocky ravine, mixed media on canvas 80x50 cm
The theme of marine nature stems from the need to express own sense of belonging to the sea. The artist comes from a southern town where the presence of the sea influences the way to feel nature and perception of reality. Geographically the Tyrrhenian area is affected by the phenomenon of volcanism, due to the crossing of the Aeolian arc, which gives rise to volcanic formations such as Stromboli and the submerged Marsili. The volcanic configuration of the Tirrenic coast, as part of the vast Mediterranen landscape, makes this area particularly suggestive.
In the artist imaginary the marine world is closely linked to the image of water as symbol of intrauterine reunion with the mother. The sea calls to mind memories of childhood, strengthens family ties, recalls the world of a lost naivety. The sea water erodes past memories, through a slow process of weathering. Marine elements like stones, seashells and sand represent the result of this process of mind erosion and biological sedimentation. The age of lost innocence back to the conscious mind through the recall of the original aquatic world. The collection seeks to combine different interests in history, art of the territory, biology, geology and archaeology. The artistic technique consists in creating a materical mixture made with plaster, glue, sand, organic sediments like shells and inorganic substance of volcanic origin deposited on sea beds and ocean floors such as pumice stone and fine clay mixed with anthropic productions (ceramic fragments, wood) as remembrance of the history of the peoples who have sailed the Mediterranean (greeks, etruscans, romans, phoenicians). In some artworks the presence of anthropic artefacts such as pieces of amphorae and wood fragments represent the remains of a wreck lying at the bottom of the sea and testify the passage of peoples, their trades and traffics.
Historically, the theme of the sea landscape (last stage in the artist's production), expresses the sense of belonging to the ancestral background of the southern Italy, mindful of a process of historical-cultural stratification having its epicenter in the Mediterranean. The study on marine nature describes this process of memories erosion that, resurfacing across the time from history in the form of marine concretions and sedimentations, focus on the theme of the sea, as a way of crossing, source of trade and crossroads of peoples. Marine nature becomes symbol of Mediterranean civilization according to the classical conception of mare nostrum, formed following the Greek colonization, as a primary source of life. Subsequently the arrival of the barbarians led to a change through the closure of the seas and the blockade of the maritime economy. During the course of the late Middle Ages, in fact, the trade routes in the Mediterranean were reopened thanks to the Norman navigators, who put an end to the blockade of trade imposed by the barbarians after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The movements of the merchants favored the reopening of trades and commerce thrived again. The theme of marine nature evokes personal and collective memories in the artist mind. A tribute to the Mediterranean and its history, evocation of submerged memories that resurface.
The collection includes artworks realized from 2019 to 2021.
Further informations at the section projects.
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