THE ART OF EDGARDO GASTINI IN THE ARTIT'S OWN WORDS

“There is not much time on search for another evolutive experiment like the one which has got spoilt owing to the ecologic catastrophe” ... Now we sound imagine an hypothetical witness of these happenings flying around with the flashing lightness of a kite surrounded  by the dream of endless seas, spots of forests and glaciers.. while sun penetrates  the clouds revealing an unlimited horizon… what I'll meet  at the end of my flight? Forever I’ll try to reconcile eternal and transient concepts (the Being and Becoming in my work): WHAT AM I? I AM NOT THIS.....I AM NOT THAT...  WELL, NOTHING BUT THIS VERY MOMENT'S  BREATH OF THE WORLD.  AND WHO ARE YOU? I'LL MEET YOUR LOOK ONE  DAY.....THEN WE"LL KNOW THERE IS NO END TO THIS MOMENT.

FLASH BACK :In the beginning of my "journey "(1961-62) my creative bias followed a series of experiences connected with representative art, producing results  which on One Direction exploded in the vibrating  gestures of  "1965 CRUCIFICTION" … and on the other coagulated in peculiarly disfigured settings  of 1967-68 iconic Pictosculptures. Then I kept  on expressing myself  with "cosmic  visions " by a fan  of explorations (the extreme  was the lyrical  minimalism  of Elastic Modulus sewn on walls).    

Then I reached my "Art of the Heart " by which I wished to express " the Cosmic  Will  of becoming humanlike” through visions expanding to utmost end and back  to the Origin again and again. THE VISION: 1984-1994: an important feature of this fable-like of mine was a kind of western-eastern syncretism based upon  the concept  of " artistic prophecy” aiming at the creative use of EGO. 

That tension in the beginning of the seventies hard given shape to an extremely  rarefied feature, the above-mentioned wall-modulus, stressed by my temporale artname "eRgo” meant to emerge Cartesian reason and the Heart one. Before I had explored  this essential score touch a series of expressionistic/symbolistic steps in the sixties: finally I came to constellations of space-spots that became more and more tapered, giving shape to increasingly more frayed trace directly squeezed out of colour-cases; later on they were related by the strings I began "to sew" canvases with. Finally I got to the elastic modulus which  consist of ribbons endowed with an inner aesthetic energy. In due time they revealed  themselves  as marks of the peculiar work done by "the Thinking Heart". House stretching-limit was broker by a "cosmic-like tear" in gelate seventies, giving birthday to the cycle of "post-deluge" works of the eighties:

Each work-course began by INTUITION: it urges the apparition of "space-time Becoming" which comes out of the timeless and unattainable dimension of "the Being" by virtue of the "Cosmic Tear".Then follows the SENTIMENT of Life. Figures, often human, come afloat mirrored in the ponds....  Later on through SENSATION should be perceived the meta-historical meaning of these figures. Mankind has overturned the games of “natural games" replacing them with those of  "artificial ones" .... the resulting drama is enhanced by whirling flames (Dionysian side of such revolution) and beaming brightness  (Apollonian side of it). In the end we get to the evidence of REASON: man has to plan creatively its own salvation, joining the Spirit of the Heart that has existed since the Big Bang, long before the separation between light and darkness; to show this indispensable expansion of consciousness I made superimpositions of canvases (symbolizing  gradual approach to space-time dimension) and set ribbon-like or wooden tensions, as to feature energetically the thinking Heart unceasing action. Those tensions derived  from the elastic "modulus", were intended to link two layers of multi-signifying space-time scenes: when "elastic" energy goes out of the canvases onto walls or other surfaces, the outward stretch works as a connection between Destiny (the wall) and the happenings taking place in the dimension of "Becoming" I aimed at emphasizing the metamorphosis of "Soul Powers" (expressive motions "exorcizing" thoughts of fear and desire fighting in our mind); see for sample  works like "Narcissus" (in which the central character finds himself within a sort of mirroring and stormy wheel of waters) or "Creation" (the Putto's winning Grace springs out flying over the re-emerging world).Each work was a step in the effort towards  "AWARENESS" a witnessing meditation of the aforesaid Metamorphoses: as the scenes reach an excessive level of "pleasantness" flashing arrows of "Ratio" come out: history, hypocrisy is seen like a castle of cards swept away by the spontaneous "Hearth of Reality". AND NIGHTMARES WENT TO HEAVEN ....  Since 1995 I've aimed at expressing  themes in more and more concise ways using different kinds and shapes of mirroring surfaces (both hollow and convex) to improve the watcher's involvement. P.S. According to me painting has not to "explain" what is visible but reveal what is invisible (see with new eyes): the surface must vibrate, communicate euphoria and enthusiasm the artist has felt in conceiving and executing his work.

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