THE METAPHYSICS OF REAL
Vannoni’s work is the outcome of a sudden and dazzling discovery occurred when he was at Giorgio De Chirico’s “The metamorphosis of the pieces” art exhibition in Milan, in 1971. […]
Luciano Vannoni’s pictures are the figment of the recognition or identification of something unknown till then, as concealed by the memory’s folds. In an essay, Flannery O’Connor claims if a writer “has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days”[1]. Even when not working with the real subjects, the footprints of those items set in the artist’s soul.
He fills them out as moulds of miss works so they don’t remain meaningless. The childish memories has drawn Luciano Vannoni up to a painting similar to De Chirico’s art.
His way to understand the real has been shaped by the ambiance he breathed when he was a child in the ancient seminary in Rimini where he used to spend longtime playing games.
When he firstly saw De Chirico’s works in 1971, these caused him a sort of emotional short-circuit. Those empty spaces where enigmatic threads intertwine each other became a wonderful obsession to summon with the ebullient power of childish fascination. He found out twenty-four sketches up thirty performed by De Chirico in 1917 during the stay in Villa del Seminario in Ferrara[2] had never been realized oil-painted. Vannoni decided to transpose on the canvas those drawings, recovering De Chirico’s techniques. Not only.
De Chirico claimed the discovery of the past is not possible without the discovery of the present. He believed the melting pot of the ancient and modern could bring the limits imposed by the culture down. To Vannoni, the past is both historical and close. Both them have a dialogue with the here and now of the expressive urgency. The art focuses again on a spiral-shaped movement and reveals itself to the world through the recognition of a common feeling.
[1] Flannery O’Connor, Mystery and Manners: occasional prose, Paperback, 2000.
[2] In-depth news, on website www.pitturametafisica.it
Maria Chiara Monaldi
THREE PAINTERS IN SAN LEO
[…] Luciano Vannoni reminds us of Giorgio De Chirico, one of the most popular 20th century artists, bringing him back to life again. He plunges into De Chirico’s technique as a bee would do with flowers. He gets into the painter’s artistic vein learning the architectural secrets and varying the several and solemn colours which palpably remind of the master’s style.
In such a way he puts up the same buildings, dummies and visceral bodies in physics, in a hard static turn of mind, darkening them in doughy, thick and solid colours, without any crack.
This proves that De Chirico’s striking style, with his own knowledge, journeys and volumetric fancy, can still be a model for future painters..
Milena Massani
THE TRADITION AND RESEARCH
[…] A different case is Luciano Vannoni’s one. He is so fond of metaphysical art, that he develops an interest in such difficult and fascinating painter as De Chirico.
That is, Vannoni has created some sketches of the popular “Italian Squares”. He has imagined them in such a good way that the result is flawless, highly mimetic, as a real demiurgic action, like a minor god giving life to the major god’s project.
The artist maintains that his interest in metaphysics originated from the fact that, when he was a teenager, he had attended some lessons at the old Rimini Seminary, he felt that the building was both a playground and a mystical place.
Ivo Gigli
LUCIANO VANNONI
A surprisingly high percentage of artists of the last hundred years have
been involved in ideas in which their art reflects a desire to express
metaphysical ideals, which cannot necessarily be expressed in traditional
pictorial terms.
Luciano Vannoni’s art fits into this category and does not face any
difficulties when trying to identify any visual influences on his art. The
undisputed artistic style that can be related in terms of method is
Metaphysics with Giorgio de Chirico being his great inspiration.
However, a more profound result can be found when analysing this
important influence on
Luciano’s painting style. He manifests mastery
of the laws of the universality of art, that i.e., the formal elements of art,
such as form, line, colour and composition. Sophisticated solutions of
forms with hints of anatomical elements permeate Luciano’s canvases
revealing hidden possibilities, universal meanings and inner qualities.
Human beings must aspire towards the infinite, reducing the finite and
physical needs by believing that visible forms in the lower stages of the
material world are a distraction on the path to truth.
The insistence that
true reality must be reshaped in its visible forms is indeed a recurring
theme in the artist’s painting: he reduces the importance of recognisable
form by allowing abstract and geometric form to become ‘superior’.
At the same time, for Vannoni, spiritual values are timeless and above thesphere of individual subjective needs.
In his art he expresses these values, whichw are the basic principles of
life, but not derived from personal experiences and feelings. His images
are visual statements of the reflective and creative imagination, but also
of in-depth study of the true nature of reality.
His is a deep and sincere desire to share with the viewer what he has
learnt in the process of creation. Perhaps one of the most remarkable
qualities of Luciano’s paintings, apart from the impressive use of colour,
is the achievement of a clear harmony between dynamics and stillness.
For Luciano, the idea is not a flash of inspiration, but a vision that must
be put onto canvas. His ideas are the result of a long process of drawings
and impressions, of conclusions drawn from tangible life. Everything
reflects his intellectual approach to painting.
M.G.Todaro – Critic QueenArt Studio
AT FIRST GLANCE
Luciano Vannoni’s works appear to be perfect copies of the
metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico and the role Luciano seems to
have chosen is that of a faithful disciple of the master.
But, after careful observation and contemplation, we see that, more
than blindly following the example, Luciano feels a strong nostalgia
for a magical and sacred world, better than the chaotic world of today,
and it is this feeling that pushes him forward on this very narrow road.
Indeed, almost without realizing it, in recent works the iconography,
although metaphysical, has become increasingly personal in the
choice of objects and painting technique, now his images are bathed
in a different light, no longer with a patina from the beginning of
the century but the light of today itself – looking through the eyes of
Luciano we see the metaphysics of de Chirico evolve very slowly into
something different while coming from the same roots, now has a
different energy and tells a different story always using the language
inspired by metaphysics evolving under the light of current events.
Martin Hiddink