ENGRAVINGS

Inaugurated on June 15th 2011 at the Museum ‘T.Katzoulidis’ of Messini, the graphic art exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo ended on November 3th with a ceremony at the Italian School of Athens after a five months tour to Leros, Rhodes, Volos and Patras.

Under the patronage of the Italian Embassy in Athens and the prefecture of Palermo, the exhibition has followed an process through Greece, hosted by the Museum of Graphical Arts in Messini (Kalamata), the Exhibition Centre “Alevromilos in Leros, the Gallery of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rhodes, the Cultural Centre of Nea Ionia in Volos, the Sokari Hall of the Cultural Centre in Patras and the Italian School of Athens.

[click to open the gallery]        

The interest of the exhibition, apart from the high artistic level of the exposed works, lies also in its structural complexity directed toward a fundamental educational purpose, trying to involve visitors in the unseen technological process of the work of art, instead of confining them to the usual role of simply admiring (or criticising...)  the aesthetic result.

The two sections that consist the exhibition interact complementing each other and focusing the visitors’ attention on the complex creative process, that, starting with the materials used and through the various adapted techniques, leads to the final artistic product. The visitors, then, are encouraged to connect the work of art to the executive methods used for its creation.

The “educational section” is represented by the illustrative exhibition of several matrices, of a photographic display of the most common tools used for the construction of a matrice and of an illustrative video showing the preparation, execution and and printing of various chalcographic techniques.

The purely exhibitional part, that combines the traditional “teachers’ section” with an “historical retrospective” of a great time span, allows the visitors to admire the works of past and present masters but also comprises samples of a high artistic level representing the various techniques used, from the more traditional to the most experimental.

The innovation of this exhibition lies moreover in a first attempt to coordinate at a national level cultural activities, usually organized independently by various institutions, aiming at the optimization of the available resources.

[sfoglia il catalogo virtuale della mostra]

… per lastre e per inchiostri … è il territorio oscuro dell’alchimia dove metalli ed acidi, cere e torchi sono padroni di casa non molto affabili e cerimoniosi ma, a quanti con sapienza e pazienza sanno entrare nelle loro grazie, riservano l’accesso ad un mondo fantastico e affascinante dove è possibile produrre raffinate ragnatele, incroci di umori, particolari sensazioni tattili prima che visive.

… per lastre e per inchiostri … è onomatopea dello stridio del bulino contro il metallo della lastra, è il rumore del combattimento omerico del metallo contro il metallo, è la musica di fondo del buio antro di Efesto dove i Titani lavorano con acre fatica a produrre manufatti di luminosa bellezza.

… per lastre e per inchiostri … è terra di nessuno dove chiunque può, se provvisto di anima, avvicinarsi per chiedere di esprimere o di raccontare storie ed emozioni.

… per lastre e per inchiostri … e ci si avvia verso Macondo, dove nasce la bellezza e la follia.

luisa maria leto