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JUSU E SUSU
Akrai
June 3, 2021
Da Andrea
June 17, 2021Ph. © Giuseppe Bombaci e Riikka Vainio
JUSU E SUSU
Exhibition of contemporary art
San Sebastiano Contemporary – Casa Bramante at Palazzolo Acreide didn’t let many days pass before turning the lights on again and opening its doors to the public after the difficult period of the pandemic. On the two floors of the Gallery, two artists are showcased until June 13th 2021, Giuseppe Bombaci and Riikka Vainio. The former is curated by Vito Chiaramonte and the latter by Aldo Premoli. The exhibition is open from Friday to Sunday and on other days by appointment, until June 13th 2021.
www.sansebastianocontemporary.it
Ambaradam
Giuseppe Bombaci
The intrinsic nature of the series of works Ambaradam by Giuseppe Bombaci emerges from his own words during an encounter in his atelier, full of canvases, some on display and others wrapped up, so with elements of light and of dark, just like the surface of his works. A phrase of his grabs my attention and leads us to the ultimate purpose of contemporary painting, to the conquest of an art that is purged of schools and conventions, and which take on a free identity of harmony of shape and colour: “Painting doesn’t have to look like anything that exists in reality. Every artist speaks their own language, one that helps to translate the new images they generate in their own minds onto a solid support”.
It doesn't matter whether these works evoke gardens full of lush vegetation which recall canvases by Clifford Still from which shiny, edgy little zips emerge, inherited from the painting tradition of Barnett Newman; whether nature takes on the ascetic and symbolic enchantment of the landscapes of Paul Klee or whether Kandinskij brings abstract art to life starting from the same sort of considerations as our artist. Or rather, perhaps it does matter to the extent that the attribution of an artistic choice to a source of undeniable historic connotations gives legitimacy and even authority to the creative gesture; and it is equally interesting to note how Bombaci’s knowledge of the history of art and wide-ranging visual culture contribute and enrich his works and invite us to observe the elements carefully, one by one, everytime we see one of his works, in an exquisite game of virtuoso knowledge. There is much more of course: human presences that seem to have left their spirits to guard over the treasures of those places, a spent energy that wants to arise once more, sensorial stimuli, care for life, elements of physics and metaphysics; and lastly Love, for all of Creation, a love that seems to whisper to us in these Paintings-Nature from the contrasts of the fields of vivid colour and in the variety of the materials used.
Incantevoli Misure - Enchanting Measures
Riikka Vainio
Anyone who doesn’t know Riikka Vainio can find her essence in the works in the exhibition Jusu e Susu. The title of the part which showcases her art is Incantevoli Misure - enchanted measures and it is hosted on the upper floor of Casa Bramante. Although it is a selection of separate works, to the visitor the exhibition looks like a site-specific installation in which the individual works on show follow a single subtle plan dictated by an invisible plan. They are perfectly balanced and communicate using a synesthetic language that is both natural and supernatural at the same time, satisfyingly calibrated and exquisitely delicate. “Over there everything is order and beauty, luxury, calm and voluptuousness” to quote a “Flower” by Baudelaire. It’s no accident that we mention a Flower, because we find many flowers here; bright despite the drying process, fragile, beautiful, and which seem to suggest an old-fashioned perfume, an ephemeral consistency, the magic of their blossoming. We find them in large painting-showcases of wood, bound together by transparent nylon threads which allow them to float within the space of the frame; we find them in a hanging installation of another Venus Pudens – as in the best, traditional classical and modern iconography - which is both a metamorphosis of a nymph and Mother Nature firmly anchored to the ground by her roots, while her branches reach to conquer the air like outspread wings and seem to lift her from the ground, transforming her into a victorious Nike figure in flight. We find them in the small compositions which refer to Concetti Spaziali by Lucio Fontana, or to Coriandoli by Tano Festa, in which the nucleus of a Supernova seems to have freed its energy in the form of colour. Lastly we find them in the installation in the middle of the room, the result of her walking and observation of the vibrant paths on Mount Etna where the Finnish artist goes to look carefully for the gifts that Time and Nature have placed between those footpaths and Vainio’s steps “ so as not to lose the knowledge of the past which is bound to the wellness of the soul”.
