INTERVIEWS ON THE ARTIST

INTERVIEWS ON THE ARTIST

OLIVIERO TOSCANI

VITTORIO SGARBI E EMMANUELE F.M. EMANUELE

TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVENTIONS SGARBI AND EMANUELE
OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION PALACE OF EXHIBITIONS 2012

In the introductory speech at the inauguration of the exhibition on May 28, the President of the Palaexpo Special Company and President of the Rome Foundation, Prof. Avv. Emmanuele F.M. Emanuele, and Prof. Vittorio Sgarbi.

Prof. Emanuele stated:

“I am very happy to inaugurate this beautiful exhibition by Centonze, a painter whom I have supported since time immemorial, convinced as I am that he is one of the realities, no longer a promise, of the visual arts of our country and beyond, as I sincerely hope. He is the winner, among other things, of the "Special Rome Foundation Award" and above all he has the great merit and merit of having the number one in our country, Vittorio Sgarbi, as a supporter. When Vittorio Sgarbi is convinced and adopts an artist, it means that he certainly has a future.

Centonze represents a great potential for his expressive ability. This constant proposal of his differentiated models, his being not a maniacal reproducer of himself or of his intuition is undoubtedly a testimony of his value, of which I am firmly convinced. I strongly wanted this exhibition in the Fontana area of ​​the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, which is the temple of contemporary art in Italy and especially in Rome. I am sure that Centonze has all the potential to be, over time, one of the great artists of our country.”

Prof. Vittorio Sgarbi stated:

“Centonze's favorite subjects are his relatives, demonstrating his profound human religiosity and the feelings that harbor in his soul. He is "the painter of affections": he paints his father, mother, sisters, friends, cousins ​​in a path that can be seen outside the Sala Fontana of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

Inside the same room, opposite to the figures and affections that motivate the painting, there are warehouses or sheds full of garbage. He feels the need to move in an area that is that of a space of the mind, which is an empty space full of garbage which, however, also becomes color, in order to express an informal painting in substance and strongly material, but of recognizable space: yes they see spaces, you see the lights, you can see that we are in a room even if in the end the paintings aspire to be informal but they stop a moment before precisely for this perspective dimension. In this research there is the erotic, physical pleasure of color as pure energy that makes this series very interesting.

Almost a diabolical series of Monet's water lilies. Monet had imagined a celestial dimension and his is a hellish dimension. In this hell, however, one imagines an ascetic dimension such as the one that great mystical poets like Juan de la Cruz indicate and that is from the dark, from the darkest and darkest room, the eyes are trained to see that light that will then become the call to divine light . So there is a journey into the abyss and then go up again. The idea of ​​this garbage, of these dark places from which the light of the background then flickers indicates a desire to understand these works as prayers, as long prayers, of an asceticism towards a spiritual presence that is within him. So they are works that have an expressive modernity and at the same time a spiritual density that corresponds to the soul of Centonze.

These are important and conspicuous beginnings. I came here and I assisted him like a father both with respect to critical functions and also, I am very proud of it, with this beautiful setting, very rarefied in this space of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. An already rich experience of a very young boy, with a creative exuberance already sufficiently expressed in this beautiful series of warehouse spaces ”.

Interview released by Prof. Avv. Emmanuele F.M. Emanuele on the occasion of the awarding of the Special Rome Foundation Prize to the artist Mimmo Centonze for the work "Capannone"

As for the Special Rome Foundation Award, I am very happy that it has been given to a young, very talented artist, who has already shown his proactive validity both with a beautiful exhibition he did in Spoleto, promoted by the Honorable Vittorio Sgarbi, both with his presence at an equally important exhibition in Salemi. As for me, the choice fell on him because I am a convinced admirer of him, having had the opportunity to appreciate his cultural path and the ability to envision a harmonious world, enlivened by an exceptional light and a significant plasticity.

The work speaks for itself because it is one of the most beautiful works of the exhibition for its vitality, for its chromaticity, for its expressive power, for the pathos it transfers and also because I see a very strong social component in this work: the blast furnace, the structures that better than any other place are exhibited in this context - Central Montemartini Museum - testify that this country, this nation of ours, despite this current decline, was born and has forged itself above all thanks to the great commitment of the factories, the world of work and those who have spent time and will to make it great. Centonze masterfully interprets this design ability. I consider him one of the potentially brightest artists of the new generation.

He deservedly won the Fondazione Roma Special Award as part of my multiple activities by now he will have an exhibition dedicated to him in the Fontana area of ​​the Palazzo delle Esposizioni which, as I believe is known, has become the emblematic space for the display of works by young people artists, which he is. It is therefore a further confirmation of my esteem, and not only for his work.

For me, the work is the most beautiful since it received the Rome Foundation Special Prize. As far as I am concerned, I have found in it that social expectation of work, of our lively world of the past years, which is testified by this factory in which precisely the materials merge and become, through the work of fusion, another characterization. This is my intuition and why I rewarded it.

He is the Rembrandt of factories, he is the Rembrandt of industrial entrepreneurship, he is a Rembrandt regardless of the rest.

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