TRACCE in mostra a Casa Toesca

TRACCE sta girando l'Italia...
dopo l'esposizione alla Galleria 3D di Mestre, come vi avevo anticipato, ecco le tavole in mostra a Rivarolo Canavese, presso Casa Toesca, un luogo magico.

Se volete vederle in questa splendida cornice, avete tempo fino al 22 dicembre.

Intanto gustatevi queste poche immagini scattate da mio nipote Corrado in visita domenica scorsa.

ENGLISH VERSION

TRACES are around Italy...

After the exhibition in 3D Gallery, Mestre, here we have my pieces in Casa Toesca, Rivarolo Canavese (Turin), a magical place, indeed!

If you are around Italy and you want to see them there, you have time till the 22nd December.

For the moment, you can enjoy the pictures taken by my nephew Corrado last Sunday.

Nuovi progetti, ritorno alle origini.

In questi giorni si è conclusa la personale presso la galleria 3D di Mestre e le tavole delle città venete sono partite verso Rivarolo Canavese (TO) presso lo spazio Casa Toesca, una splendida dimora settecentesca dove saranno esposte per il pubblico piemontese a partire da domani 3 dicembre. 

Quindi, adesso, il nostro staff può concentrarsi sul secondo ciclo di incisioni.

Stavolta ritorno alla mia terra e ho deciso di realizzare le città barocche del Val di Noto, ovvero Siracusa, Scicli, Ragusa, Catania, Noto, Modica, Militello Val di Catania, Caltagirone e Palazzolo Acreide.

Sto partendo da Siracusa e dalla ricerche fatte finora è incredibile constatare come la città in epoca greca fosse una vera e propria metropoli! La cinta muraria si estendeva per quasi 28km, la famosa pentapoli, suddivisa in cinque quartieri: Ortigia, Akradina, Neapolis, Tyche ed Epipole. L'area monumentale comprendeva il teatro, qui nacque la commedia con Epicarmo, l'agorà, l'ara di Ierone; la fonte Aretusa e il tempio di Apollo in Ortigia, primo tempio in pietra dell'occidente greco, del VI sec. a.C., le latomie, le cave di pietra da cui veniva estratto il materiale per costruire la città... doveva essere un brulicare di vita.
Siracusa era uno dei porti principali del Mediterraneo, qui nel III sec. a. C. venne costruita la più grande nave in assoluto, primato mantenuto fino all'avvento delle moderne navi in ferro nella seconda metà dell'ottocento.

Dalla parte di terra la città era protetta dal castello Eurialo, ingegnoso ed inespugnabile sistema difensivo: il dedalo di percorsi sotterranei permetteva ai siracusani di sorprendere alle spalle eventuali assalitori.
Ingegnosi i siracusani, senza dubbio, non dimentico che la città ha dato i natali al grande Archimede, nome leggendario di uno straordinario inventore, erudito e matematico.
Con l'arrivo degli arabi nel IX la città perde il suo ruolo di capitale dell'isola a favore di Palermo e si riduce alla sola isola di Ortigia.

Qualche traccia è ancora visibile, ma il grosso non c'è più: gran parte delle pietre dei monumenti del passato vennero utilizzate per rinforzare le mura sotto l'incalzare della minaccia turca nel XVI sec.. Erano lì a disposizione, belle pronte, già tagliate... non ci hanno pensato due volte a destinarle ad altro uso e la Soprintendenza ancora non esisteva. Nei prossimi giorni posteremo altri aggiornamenti sul nostro lavoro, magari dandovi qualche curiosità sulle altre città del Val di Noto e qualche foto dei nostri disegni preparatori.

ENGLISH VERSION

In these days my personal exhibition in 3D Gallery, Mestre, finished and the pieces departed to Rivarolo Canavese (near Turin), in the beautiful Casa Toesca, a building of the XVIII sec.. There will be at disposal for the audience from the 3rd December. 
So now, our staff con concentrate to the second cycle of pieces.

This time I come back to my land, Sicily. I decided to dedicate my works to the baroque cities of the Val di Noto, Sicily: Syracuse, Scicli, Ragusa, Catania, Noto, Modica, Militello Val di Catania, Caltagirone and Palazzolo Acreide. 

I started this collection with Syracuse. I made some researches and it's incredible to realize how this town was a real metropolis during Greek time. 
The walls were almost 28 km long, the famous pentapolis, divided into five districts: Ortigia, Akradina, Neapolis, Tyche and Epipole. The monumental area is full of marvellous buildings like the theatre - here the comedy was born with Epicarmo - the agorà, Ierone's altar, Aretusa's fountain and Apollo's temple in Ortigia. This is the first temple of the West made of stone in the IV sec. b.C.. Then, inside the walls there were also the Latomie (the stone quarries) whose stones were used to build the city.... Syracuse was, doubtless, full of life. 
It was one of the principal Mediterranean harbours. Here in the III sec. b.C. was built the biggest ship of the world, this record was mantained till the second half of XIX sec. 

From the earth side, the city was defended with Eurialo Castle, a clever and unconquerable defence system: the maze of  underground paths allowed the inhabitants of Syracuse to surprise the enemies at their back.
The inhabitants of Syracuse were indeed ingenious. We can not forget that this is Archimede's city, a legendary name, an extraordinary erudite, inventor, mathematician.  
With the arrival of Arabian people in the IX sec. a. C., Syracuse lost its role of main city of the island, Palermo was the new capital and the territory of the town is the sole Ortigia island. 

We can see nowadays traces of this great ancient past, but the most is lost: many stones of the monuments were used to reinforce the walls when Turkish  people tried to invade Sicily in the  XVI sec. a.C.. The stones were already cut and the Authority preserving the Cultural Heritage didn't exist, so the inhabitants took them easily for other purpose. 
In next days we'll post other updates related to our job, we will show you other curiosities related to the Val di Noto and some pictures of our preparatory drawings. 

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