Reviews

FABER TEMPUS

To approach the thoughts and movements of someone like the artist Walter Passarella, who lays bare himself in grappling with what we might call fixed partitions of our existence, we need to start with a few considerations. The most important one, which applies to every artist and every form of art, whether produced and offered by the artist or appreciated by the viewer, is humility. Yes, humility that leads both parties to prepare their spirit in the right way, ready to receive universal codes present everywhere, and to enable others to grasp each one’s message through the emotions that the artist captures and conveys in their work. For the artist, humility must also be understood as the awareness of being able, or almost “obliged,” to do, and to do it in the manner suggested by their own spirit, which, not by chance, is different in sensitivity of perception, capacity for elaboration, translation, and transfer of emotions.

The task is arduous, both in absolute terms and for itself. The material makes it exceedingly tortuous and fascinating.

Time. What other subject could surpass this in the vastness of stimuli, suggestions, challenges, and inspirations? Absolutely nothing. Time stimulates and demands attention, and the artist, equipped with the ability to withstand the challenge, presents it with images that, despite their own static nature, convey an inseparable dynamism inherent in the nature of what the artist offers us. That dynamism is the true essence of time. Some works honor the great humility and sensitivity of the author with that restlessness with which they adopt a provocative, sometimes extremely provocative, stance, to the extent that they remain perceptible even when, once the image is fixed in the viewer’s mind, the observer chooses to look elsewhere. These are works that have been granted an additional quality by the author; they have had the chance to carry forward the captured and entrusted message with complete autonomy. One never wonders what the author intends, but rather feels interrogated by these very works; as if they were endowed with the ability to interact on a communicative level, rather than just transmitting a simple message. One almost has the sensation that the author has then stepped aside, allowing the work itself to complete with this ability that they have infused into it. Some works, in particular, reveal a complex and complete structure of thought; they are works with which it seems neither impossible nor strange to engage in dialogue. It is probably an unconscious and involuntary communication between what the artist has captured from the universe and transferred into their works and what similarly lives inside anyone who observes.

Time. It is always present, it is everywhere, and this nature binds everything to everyone in a journey that may never have begun and therefore may never end.

MARCO BERTOLONI – Writer
Inauguration of the exhibition “Faber Tempus” at the Castello di Zavattarello (PV)
July 24, 2010

PERCEPTIONS OF TEMPORARINESS

Between Reality and Postmodernism, the historical, artistic, and aesthetic debate surrounding figurative art is a topic from the last 30 years or so. In the wake of Transavantgarde, it became clear that figurative art had an important role and was repositioned within avant-garde artistic movements. For Italy, this was fundamental; Italian artistic culture has had a figurative language for 4000 years, and considering figurative art as part of avant-garde movements meant redefining an artistic space. It is necessary to add the definition of avant-garde figurative art, that is, the particular transversal viewpoint that cuts through the work obliquely, which is a fundamental element; otherwise, it is not clear why figurative artworks were and still are asked to propose a different, unusual perspective.

If we consider the hyper-realistic sculptures by Cattelan or Damien Hirst, we can grasp the essence that has made postmodernism the avant-garde movement emblematic of recent years. A work like Cattelan’s “The Ninth Hour” vividly expresses the aspect outlined so far: the figure is represented with a strong adherence to the real, and the absolute contemporaneity of the viewpoint attracts, astonishes, and makes us reflect, responding to the fundamental postulates of defining a work of art.

This brief introduction seems fundamental for discussing Walter Passarella and his art. The works displayed in international exhibitions in Tokyo and Osaka in July of this year fully showcase the definitions described above, while also adding a crucial piece to the debate on postmodernism. The artist uses collage techniques, reminiscent of Rotella, integrating them into the artwork along with other figurative and photographic painting components. He does not seek to increase the gap between the parts of the work but rather emphasizes their elective affinities.

Walter Passarella is an alchemical demiurge, using elements of contemporary art, digesting them through Italian culture, and generating a new work of art, demonstrating how one can be contemporary through one’s roots. Passarella’s works should be viewed for several minutes; one cannot merely glance at them. They need to be observed deeply to understand their fragrance, balance, harmonious use of color, references to the past, and rhythmic cyclicity.

Walter Passarella’s artworks are like chests filled with secrets, brimming with the fundamental past in social history, which humans cannot do without; indeed, it is the only way for him to understand the future. The compositions have a broad breath, showing characters, settings, atmospheres; they are an encyclopedia of the artist’s visual perception and the space-time he occupies.

The meticulous work done on each piece refers to an art of engraving, of ancient memory, and the history of art acknowledges the importance of craftsmanship; it allows the artist to shorten the gap (the space) between the formulation of the image and the creation of the object, a primordial element in the creation of a work.

Walter Passarella deserves credit for understanding this, with the goal of creating artworks that, like pieces of a puzzle, fill in the artistic scenario between reality and postmodernism.

FRANCESCO ELISEI – Independent Curator of the “Nature and Dreams” Pavilion at the 53rd VENICE BIENNALE
September 20, 2009