TEXT OF EXHIBITION – CENERE

Cenere *

A regularly shaped space that lends itself as a place to transform, rather than an environment in which to exhibit works of art. Accordingly,  Ak2deru has tampered with the walls by redefining the perimeter through large painted sheets. The progress of the sign makes the vision even more alienating, canceling any sense of security regarding proportions, both vertical and horizontal. 

The painting has an irregular pattern, it follows dizzying paths to then move to areas of greater sweetness of brush-stroke. A completely wrapped space where the viewer can choose whether to read the painting in its entirety or take time and follow a single stroke. Like a large tome that can be read in single, separate chapters.

In a space set up for experimentation, the artist chooses to temporarily abandon pure painting and uses a technically unsuitable material, ash. 

He recovers combustion residues from multiple materials, thus obtaining different shades. The deep black, the smoky gray, the brown, up to the ocher which, together, give back polychrome images, in an overall context that only initially appears monochrome.

Without using painting, Ak2deru paints going through all its historical reference points, evoking great masters whose poetics, built on the sign,  was made of a delicate balance between spontaneity and control. 

The ways in which Ak2redu manages space bring him closer to abstract expressionism, where every part of the canvas is cared for meticulously and treated in the same way. There is no longer a central area that focuses on the pictorial narrative, and the painted perimeter becomes a theater for an all-encompassing game. There are no peripheral or secondary areas of the composition,  a single gaze that sees everything is encouraged instead, where the center can be identified everywhere.

Ash is not only an interesting technical device, it refers in fact to a philosophical and religious circularity that has always been an investigative tool. But it is also an element present in everyday life, it is a term familiar to everyone and widely used in current language. By naming ash, certain colors are identified, idioms and proverbs are created. 

It is common language and at the same time a way of naming and defining the beginning and end of everything; with its material inconsistency it creates the firm contours of the circle of life.

Two triptychs and a large diptych make the environment immense and tiny at the same time. The square perimeter of the space becomes circular thanks to the symbol of transience and the continuous and hypnotic sign of the artist.

CLP

* Ash

Critical text by Claudio Libero Pisano – Cenere – solo show at Spazio Y – 2017