For information and contact details for Aristide Gattavecchia, sculptor and painter, visit the website or write directly to:
www.gattavecchia.it
email : aristide@gattavecchia.it
Sculptor and Painter
Italian artist of the 1900s
Sculptor and Painter
Italian artist of the 1900s
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2023 - Dr. Leonarda Zappulla, an art critic, interviews Marco, the artist's grandson
2021 Interview with DeAgostini
given on the occasion of his inclusion in the Atlas of Contemporary Art
WHAT KIND OF POETICS IS EXPLORED IN YOUR WORKS (AREAS OF INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH)?
Aristide Gattavecchia has addressed powerful themes such as violence (war), incommunicability, and loneliness.
And also the themes of a rapidly changing society that is unable to face and organize these changes appropriately: ecology, conservation, and consumerism.
And finally, topics that are more relevant than ever, such as homosexuality and discrimination.
He has explored the human soul, pushing himself to the rawest and most intimate observations..
This exploration led him to very specific choices regarding his color palette, using bright red tones to represent the psychosis of fear and bold, decisive black brushstrokes to outline bodies or objects.
As he is also a sculptor, his paintings are often transformed into sculptures and reflect the expressive power of sculpture, which has no color but encompasses all chromatic variations from white to black.
WHAT EXPERIENCES OR LIFE EVENTS HAVE SHAPED AND INFLUENCED YOUR ARTISTIC WORK?
The paintings produced by the artist throughout his long life clearly reveal the events that shaped his entire body of work.
His early works from 1947–1948 appear marked by the pain and terror of war, a time when he was in the prime of his youth; those events shattered something within him that would never be fully restored.
During that period, he drew pointed hands, skeletal faces, and armless nudes (“Objects” 1948, “Thoughts” 1947, “Thoughts II” 1948).
These were followed by paintings of serene domestic scenes (“Sails,” “Blue Vase” “Green Corner”), but there are also returns to red tones and female figures marked by suffering (“Leda,” 1950)
Even the views of his beloved Cesena are haunted by gray, dark skies punctuated by unsettling flashes of white (“Sulla città,” 1953).
The 1960s, the years of the economic boom, would significantly influence Gattavecchia’s art. He would become increasingly intrigued by new trends, by a zest for life, and by the desire to leave everything behind (“The Bouquet,” 1960, “Still Life” 1962, “On the Beach” 1965), even if the ghosts of the past occasionally return in the form of dark, undefined figures (“Intrusions” 1962, “The Gaze” 1962).
His work from the 1970s reflects the sweeping social changes taking place at the time, and features themes that remain relevant today, such as consumerism—where homes “spew out” superfluous objects (“Modern Times I,” 1971)—and waste (“Modern Times II,” 1971), in which garbage piles up outdoors in barren spaces.
I The landscapes appear more serene, yet are still depicted in a soft, yellow light, as if imbued with a sort of melancholy (“II Savio,” 1975).
The influences on his artistic practice also extend to materials. During those years, the artist temporarily abandoned canvas to paint on plastic.
He was also influenced by the consequences of the ferment sweeping the art world, driven by the speed at which ideas, information, and culture are exchanged.
He created the abstract paintings “Frammenti” (1979).
These are six works that were painted, cut out, and then re-glued together through a process of symbolic reconstruction. The whole is actually composed of different parts, much like the inner essence of a person.
Another dominant theme in Gattavecchia’s art is that of incommunicability. Society has changed profoundly. We have moved from life on the streets, when “everyone knew each other” and helped one another, to life inside locked-up homes, where everyone is preoccupied with their own self-interest. And so paintings like “Indifferenza” and “Enigma” from 1979 were born, in which faces do not communicate, mouths do not speak, and eyes do not look. Each character is closed off within themselves and avoids any attempt at communication.
Themes that are still relevant today!
The paintings from the 1980s address themes that are still relevant today, such as homosexuality (“Le Amiche,” 1984) and loneliness (“Pensando,” 1983; “Aspettando,” 1985; “Solitudine,” 1987).
MBut the event that deeply affected the artist after World War II was the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. He painted “Cernobyl” (1986) and “Effetto Radioattivo” (1986), depicting women and children without hair and devoid of expression. They seem frozen in time, frozen in their words and gestures. The yellow or red colors make them unpleasant to look at. There is neither the joy of youth nor the enthusiasm of life.
These would be among his last color paintings; thereafter, he would use almost exclusively black and white, as if life were too painful to depict in color.
Nn his paintings from the 1990s, shapes and people blur and merge. Are the objects depicted people or bottles? Can you tell what’s inside a dark bottle? Can you know what a person hides deep within their innermost being?
WHAT IS THE MISSION OF ART AND THE ARTIST IN TODAY’S WORLD?
The artist Gattavecchia has conveyed various messages through his work, primarily messages of social critique.
His art sought to provoke reflection, to shock, to awaken people from the lethargy of living without goals or plans, all conforming to the same desires and ambitions.
He wanted to encourage people to think.
To send a powerful message about developing one’s own individuality and making one’s own choices.
Aristide Gattavecchia - 1994 unfinished