2006
Catalogo della Mostra
Each of the images you are about to see is the portrait of an existing mountain. The titles of these works on paper correspond exactly to the names of those mountains. Should one, being familiar with Italian mountains, read one after the other the titles of these works , one would think to be travelling along an Alpine geography.
In fact, going through these images one gets the impression of visiting an imaginary landscape suspended on black, white or pale blue paper, sketched by a pastel or suggested by the tip of a soaked brush.
You will see real mountains but not “true” ones. They are real because they are recognizable, they exist and you can go see them. They are real because they are unmistakeably painted by someone who loves them and goes about them frequently. They are painted by someone who is familiar with their consistence, their verticality and even with the danger that inhabits them but also with the air that surrounds them and the speed at which clouds and wind transfigure them.
These mountains have been conquered on paper too. The discipline, rigour and determination once used to climb them has been poured into artistic craft. In both cases the equipment used has been carefully chosen, the muscles patiently warmed and trained and the learning process followed step by step. No shortcuts to get quickly to the top.
Luckily all this work is barely revealed on paper. These sturdy and familiar peaks look still untamed under this sharp yet serene light: no remembrance of the effort to conquer them, they keep their distance from us like dreams or memories because these works on paper have the patina of paintings discovered in an antique shop. They have a quality revealed again to us after having been lost and forgotten for a long time, like an ideal we thought belonged to our youth and that a late passion revives with an intensity and yet an awareness and measure unthinkable in the frenzy of youth.
When very young, the motivation to explore the world or to approach a new media is to build one’s identity. One is pushed to find outside an identity that lies incomplete and asleep inside oneself. When very young, one is driven by instinct and counts on the impression of having limitless resources and a natural ability of fast recovery.
Growing older one is motivated to follow a new path or approach a new craft ( to learn to draw and paint, for instance) by something very different. It is the need to mark the perimeter of one’s inner space to define the essence of previous experiences and to contain a tight selection of the emotions one has accumulated over the years. It is the need of firming a view rather then searching for a new one, the need of using wisely the available energy rather than boldly displaying it. It is a very articulated yet linear process in which the result is as important as the path and the method followed to get to it.
What makes the mountains you are going to see so calm and rarefied ( like retreat for the soul or enchanted landscapes) is a sense of wonder: the surprise of having unexpectedly reached a higher altitude with a better view compared to the one, one had in mind, and still enjoyed it step by step.
Bruno Pasini
