Mediterranean Sea of cultures

When my friend Angelo Ventimiglia asked me a collaboration in order to present a new piece for the exhibition – convention Mediterranean Sea of Cultures in Cosenza on 24^th October, I was overwhelmed by work for the other exhibition – Traces, my first personal – that was opening on 25^th October...

I thought I could never do it. But, I couldn't resist to this calling! I am from Sicily, the Pearl of Mediterranean Sea and I had to tell my point of view.

“Mediterranean Sea of Cultures” sounds like a sentence made for me, a Sicilian transplanted in Venice.

When I think about the socio-political environment of a thousand years ago, when Jewish, Arabian and Christian people lived peacefully together in our region, I can't but immerse into tradition. I feel like drunk, not with wine, but with inspiration. So let my soul speak!

The piece conceived for this exhibition takes inspiration from the Palatine Chapel in Palermo and from Ruggero II, the first King of Sicily.

Ruggero was a liberal king, he hosted the most eminent philosophers of his time in a background characterized by cultural syncretism: a wildest dream!

The Palatine Chapel perfectly represents this spirit: there are several traces of Arabian architecture (the ogival arch and the roof with painted wood muqarnas) combined with Greek and Latin architectural features.

Gold and colors give us a marvellous masterpiece. Well, I must say that I know the Chapel like the back of my hand and I can read all the hidden symbols, but I am still deeply touched by this harmony of cultures.

But let me show you all the symbols represented in our piece.

We thought about two rotated squares, like the Palatine Chapel coffer, in order to compose an eight pointed star. In the central spaces, on the diagonal lines, you can recognize the symbols of the king's power in Eastern and Western cultures: the lions, the eagle and the hawk (Venice, Egypt, Roman Empire, Sacred Roman Empire).

Then, on the vertical line, there is the portrait of Ruggero II, the founder of the Reign of Sicily; on the other side, Jesus Christ crowning him.

On the horizontal line the extreme limits of the Mediterranean Sea are represented: on the left, the Pillars of Hercules marking the Strait of Gibraltar limit; on the opposite side, the myth of the Golden Fleece recalls the extreme limits on the Black Sea.

The hearth of the artpiece is represented by the Idrisi's map. Idrisi was an Arabian geographer, he composed the first map of the Mediterranean Sea for Ruggero II.

And how could I forget the Maritime Republics? The symbols of these cities appear in the four corners.

In the end, we wanted to stress out the concept of the artwork also with words; so we wrote Mediterranean Sea of Cultures on the perimeter of the eight-pointed star in different languages: Arabian, Italian, ancient Greek, Latin, Jewish, English. This is the key concept of the piece.

When I look at it, written in the gold, twisting and turning like a ribbon, it seems to me like a pray, a sort of multilingual mantra reminding us that the Mediterranean Sea connects and does not divides.

I want to thank all the friends who helped me with the translations; without them this piece couldn't be realized.

 

Art and memory

For the new friends English speaking, here you are the English version of our posts! :) 

I always had passion for art and history.

Since my boyhood, I worked with my hands in order to shape everything with different materials: modelling clay, paper, bread crumb.

Thirty years ago, I moved to Venice and now I work with glass, Muranese glass in particular, creating chandelliers and other pieces for important brands.

Now that I am almost sixty, I have decided to develop other projects. These projects can tell stories about forgotten traditions, art and crafts, cities always changing, migration.

I decided to write this thoughts on the web, not only thorugh my artworks, in order not to lose that excelent Italian tradition, in an Italy that nowadays seems like the country described by Dante in the VI canto of the Purgatory "Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello, nave sanza nocchiere in gran tempesta, non donna di province, ma bordello!" (the translation sounds like “ah, Italy you are a slave, like a boat without helmsman during a storm, not noble woman, but brothel”).

This is the reason why I decided to start this cycle of pieces realized on Murano Glass with the ancient tecniques called Venetian gold engraved.

The first collection is called TRACES and consists of maps of the XVIII sec. reprensenting the principal Veneto cities (Belluno, Mestre, Padova, Rovigo, Treviso, Venezia, Verona, Vicenza).

The exhibition is at the gallery 3D – Via Antonio da Mestre 31 - thanks to Adolfina De Stefani's and Gaetano Salerno's precious help.

But why maps? Why Traces?

I liked the concept. Traces are what is left of ancient time, before the Industrial Revolution that shocked our cities' urbanistic assets.

Traces are the memories of the polis, the archetipical city, and of its spaces where people built social, cultural, commercial and political relations. Today I walk in the same spaces, looking for a rescue of those traditions distinguishing us from the rest of the world.

So welcome to this virtual space! Here you can find my thoughts about my works, and many stories related to Venetian traditional crafts, landscapes...

I feel heir of an ancient tradition, but for me these are the first steps: it is like leaving but with the knowledge that you walked through thousand kilometers. But maybe this is the sense of becoming, of creating.

Enjoy your reading! 

Photo by Daniel Perazzone

Dal decoratore

Dopo il battiloro e la fornace, vi racconto di un altro passaggio del mio lavoro, prima di iniziare l'incisione. 

Da piazzale Roma, prendo il vaporetto per dirigermi da Albertini & Spezzamonte, i decoratori a cui mi affido per l'applicazione della foglia oro e per la finitura al termine delle incisioni. 

Mi affaccio all'aria salmastra del vaporetto. 
Il loro studio si trova a Murano, poco lontano dall'attracco del vaporetto e poco lontano dall'azienda di Archimede Seguso che ha visto muovere i miei primi passi nel mondo del vetro di Murano.

Mi sono piaciuti subito Giorgio, Gianni e Anna Spezzamonte; sono eredi di quella tradizione che  ha visto nel loro padre, Nino Spezzamonte, un grande, basti pensare che la sua memoria è ancora viva a Murano.

Questa superba arte al giorno d'oggi si sta piano piano perdendo, sfilacciata dalla globalizzazione e dall'avvento della concorrenza cinese, formata proprio dagli stessi artigiani che avrebbero dovuto proteggerla. 

Anni e anni di tradizione e di esperienza venduti al miglior offerente, senza fermarsi a riflettere sul senso di perdita che ne sarebbe derivato. 

Ma non volevo scrivere di questo, oggi.

Oggi vorrei chiudermi con loro nello studio e immergermi in quell'atmosfera magica, fatta di respiri leggeri per applicare la foglia oro e precisione certosina per decorare i singoli pezzi di vetro. 

Puntino dopo puntino, pennellata dopo pennellata, creano immagini astratte o figurative, immobili nella maestosità del vetro che dona una luce particolare a tutte le loro opere. 

Porto loro le mie lastre e con infinita pazienza Giorgio applica la foglia oro, poca alla volta. Pare facile, ma serve mano ferma e respiro leggero.

Da una superficie imperfetta poi, con una passata "magica" esce la lastra che poi posso lavorare. 

E si rinnova la mia ispirazione: una superficie aurea intonsa vedrà la nascita di nuovi paesaggi fissati nell'eternità dell'oro. Non vedo l'ora di ricominciare.  

Photo by Daniel Perazzone