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| RE-LIGIO tempera on wood, 100 x 110 cm, assembly 2 pieces private collection Italia |
About the name of the work: the term religion comes from the Latin "religio", which meant re-binding, re-connection, or restoring a link (with the divinity, obviously). The work is inspired by a visual element found in Byzantine icons – the hand of God blessing certain scenes or important events (a symbol I have not seen much in Catholic religious painting) – but is never found independently, being an element symbolically from an icon (visible in the left or right corner). I found interesting the idea of Malevich when he exhibited the work The Black Square, in 1915, and hung it in the exhibition in the corner of that room, as the Slavs traditionally hung the icons in the house, also in the corner of the room. And this decision was not an accident, because he hoped that it was the beginning of a spiritual revolution of humanity, an evolution towards a new spirituality, which was inspired by those revolutionary times that brought Communism and Nazism (in the end, it seems that he was sorely mistaken ). But I liked the idea that where it is displayed, it has a charge and can convey a message. So it will be an absolute condition if it will be exhibited or purchased, that it will be shown not next to the other works, as is generally done, but in the upper part, in a corner (as is also found in icons)! Because it would make no sense to expose it below, or in the middle, like other works. If someone accepts it in an exhibition it will be mandatory to accept this condition!
On the other hand, I find this graphic element related to the WI-FI symbol, which we all have on our phones or computers. I don't know if those who chose this symbol thought about it, or if this graphic formula of connection exists in a collective psychological substratum. Anyway, this is why I chose the name RE-LIGIO - as a symbol of the divine presence and the need to reconnect with It!
