Artist's books – excerpts and contents

The Confirmation

At this point, the language of painting reveals itself as the most powerful means of expressing these arguments at once, without any mediation. The artist speaks without words; colours and the forms created speak for her, saying insistently: we are Beauty, Song, Magic. We are the Splendour of the small flower and of the great cosmic immensity. We are Mystery, “what is wild in us, what cannot be quantified, and also what we all have in common: Blood, Breathing, the Beating of the Heart, Sprouting, the Waxing and Waning of the Moon, the rotation of the Earth, Birth, Death, Rebirth”. Thanks to this message, something moves within us; we begin to remember what we had forgotten, and the awareness of our indispensable participation in universal life returns. Through an intensely inner work, which often happens without our knowing, we remember and re-member ourselves. Without our knowing? Yes, that too, because the magic of Art is such that it makes even our rationality superfluous. We then give the greatest priority to perception, sensations and feelings, thus rediscovering the wholeness of our being human. And all that remains is for us, too, together with the Artist, to pay homage to the Muse who has touched our hearts as well.

Contents: 1. The Sacredness of the Dream · 2. The Enchanted Mountain · 3. The Little Mermaid · 4. The Entrance · 5. Art as healing therapy · 6. The end does not justify the means · 7. Breaking the shell · 8. The Journey continues · 9. The Confirmation

The Rhythm of Fire

In this and in future Performances, everything has a precise meaning: the places chosen, the materials used, the dates, the astral times, the seasons, the colours… In this case RED symbolises both vital Energy in general and the Blood flowing in the bodies of living beings, reminding us of the value of, and respect for, every existence… It also has clear connections with the Blood of the female cycle, which even today is perceived as “taboo” – not in the original sense of the word, meaning “sacred”, “important”, connected with the periodic regeneration of life, but as something scandalous, or at least improper, “better not talked about”. Yet on the threshold of the third millennium we should well be able to understand the causes that in the “historical” past led to this Blood being equated with something repugnant, together with those to whom it belonged: women. Just think of the many purification rituals they were forced into and the prejudices that surrounded this “unmentionable matter”. It is time instead to reconsider that this Red, which flows cyclically, marking the rhythm of female procreative potential, is the only Blood in the world that does NOT flow from a living body because of illness or violence, but simply to signal the monthly “renewal”. This “naturally” leads us to connect woman with the cosmic cycle, since the female monthly period corresponds to that of the Moon and is measured by it; the very word “menstruation” has its root in MENS, measure, and indeed in ancient times the Moon was the real measure of time: there were 13 months in a year, that is, 13 moons…

Contents: Preface · 1. The Event · 2. The Research

The Invisible Real – The Web

Soft Art

The lightness of the artistic intervention is underlined by building a Work that does not impose itself on the environment, neither with arrogance disguised as conceptuality nor with violence – also by misusing modern technology; it carries out no anthropocentric or androcentric manipulation or upheaval, but harmonises with the places, indeed enhancing their characteristics and natural beauty. This inclination is underlined by the materials used: ropes, threads, ribbons, but also glass, copper, tin, wood and clay… I would like to build the Web once again with the Red Ribbon, in a much stronger material, keeping the same dimensions as the structure of the Performance – more than six thousand square metres. This time I would like both light-reflecting and sound elements to be fixed directly at the “knots” where the radii cross the spiral, both in the symbolic number of sixty. This number – which I discuss in more detail in the research on “The Rhythm of Fire”, the first Performance on Etna – relates to our heartbeat, which we also keep at our wrists, in our watches, as a measure of time… It reminds us of the correspondence between our inner rhythm and the pulse of the Universe, the close relationship between microcosm and macrocosm…

Light Art

I would also imagine building an even “lighter” Web, woven at the same time with shimmering luminosity, made only of countless mirroring elements mounted on a thread invisible from a distance: in this case the result would perfectly reflect the title of the Installation, “The Invisible Real”. Its fascination would be enhanced by the light of the Sun by day and of the Moon by night. In every case it would be built during the Waxing Moon, which, as we know, favours fine undertakings. By day, against the ever-changing sky behind the Work, the glitter would resemble the thousand reflections of the Sun on the sea. By night, the Moon would make this special weave stand out with myriad sparks against the velvet background of the dark sky. In the morning, when the rising sun turns the mountains blue as they slowly emerge from a light translucent mist, the glitter would recall the moist splendour of dewdrops caught by the dawn. At evening, the Web would become the net holding in its invisible mesh the stars of the firmament and the Moon itself – or fireflies on a beautiful summer evening… Each refraction of light in the deep night would recall the distant pulsing splendour of a Supernova, whose light reaches us when it no longer exists; together, the silent sizzle would chime with that of the mysterious constellations.

Contents: Preface · 1. The Event · 2. The Web as installation · Soft Art · Light Art · Breath Art · Participatory Art

Arm Cervàs

This rock, the largest in the Castelmezzano mountain group, has a triangular-pyramidal shape, and symbolises the Lucanian village also in a logo designed by the artist anTheòs. It shows its stylised geometry, outlined by the initials of Castelmezzano, the C and the M in cuneiform-like characters, that is < and M.

I have always been curious about the possible meaning of the name Cervàs and, even though we have few elements, we can attempt a linguistic exploration. It is interesting to note the assonance with a whole semantic group including the syllables Cer and Ker. The first association is with Greek (considering that Cer equals Ker, the K having softened into C, as from Keramikos to Ceramica…), with the word Kèras, which in ancient Greek designates a horn-like projection, the yard of a ship. In Latin too, cornua are yards, or the projecting tip of a mountain, a spur – which alone could explain the origin of the name Cervàs. Continuing the search we also find Kervatis, hence Kervas, Cervas, Cervati, that is “horn-footed”, or “who goes on the mountain peaks”. This last meaning is particularly evocative: stirring our imagination, it brings forth beautiful images of a mythical time when, in an unspoilt, green and wild landscape rich in crystal-clear tinkling waters, on the rocks rising from thick woods there appeared not only wild “horn-footed” creatures such as deer, fallow deer, wild boar and goats, but also very ancient deities such as Pan, he too “horn-footed”. In one of those blue dawns, amid the golden mist that the first sun dispels, one almost seems to see him appear, surrounded by throngs of nymphs and fantastic animals, as he pipes melodies up on the peaks…

Contents: 1. Arm · 2. Castelmezzano · 3. Arm Cervàs · 4. Mandala · 5. The square of S. Maria dell’Olmo in Castelmezzano · 6. Knotting… · 7. The Web · 8. The Tarantolati · 9. A hypnotic concert · 9a. “Throwaway” time · 10. Archetype · 11. Land Art · 12. Participatory Art

Publications in preparation

• The mysterious Glyphs of the Ager Cuneatus
• Madonnas and Witches in Castelmezzano

Some earlier publications

La Montagna Stregata · Dossier La Montagna Stregata in Arles · La Montagne Ensorcelée · Dossier “Primavera”: young people meet Poetry · Giardini di Mare e di Terra · Il Ritmo del Nardo e della Stella · Il Risveglio della Dea