PRESENTATION INSIDE THE ART OF CARAVAGGIO Stefano Fomasi The Fake - - PDF document

INSIDE THE ART OF CARAVAGGIO Stefano Fomasi – The Fake Factory Immersive Art uses digital technologies, video, music, sound and also fragrance in this case to immerse and involve the viewer in a complete emotional experience. One of the hallmarks of Caravaggio’s art is in any case his constant striving to break down the barrier between painted and real space so as to secure the viewer’s utmost involve- ment. Accordingly, the immersive video installation presented thus seeks to bridge the gap between painting and public by trans- porting the viewer literally inside the space created by the artist. In order to accentuate the immersive quality of the experi- ence, use is made of graphic and cinematographic animation techniques that invite the public to take an emotive plunge into pure vision. LIGHT God said Let there be light: and there was light. (Genesis 1,3) Caravaggio revolutionized the use of light in painting by in- venting a completely new compositional, structural and symbol- ic function for it. Light is the element that reveals reali- ty, bringing it to life before our eyes. It is this quest that led the young Caravaggio to paint the Calling of St Matthew. A revolutionary work in terms of compositional style and mean-

• ing. A new way of perceiving space emotively: the earthly ges-

ture of Christ and the divine light streaming from behind him. All the fjgures seated at the table are illuminated but Matthew alone perceives the glow and knows that he has been called. He points to himself to indicate his awareness that the light of God is shining on him. Caravaggio’s light reveal his fjgures, causing to emerge from the darkness and shadow that is their destiny. Divine light and earthly light at the same time.

PRESENTATION

While his style evolved in form and colour over the years, light as revelation remained the key compositional constant. NATURALISM “For me, a worthy man is one skilled in his craft, and so a worthy painter is skilled in painting and the imitation of natural objects.” (Caravaggio) The young Michelangelo Merisi left Milan for Rome to make his way as an artist in the Eternal City, the heart of Christendom and a place rich in art and culture. Nobles and prelates devoted their energies to the “need for beauty resulting from comfort and material ornaments”, as Pope Sixtus V put it on his deathbed. Caravaggio painted the world in which he lived, alternating still life, genre scenes and paintings of young people encoun- tered in the shops, palaces and streets of Rome. As Vincen- zo Giustiniani put it, “He took as much trouble over a good painting of fmowers as one of fjgures.” (cit. Marchese V. Gius- tiniani, “Discorso sulla Pittura”). His life grew like a vine through formative experiences in a confusion of sacred and profane. His youthful encounters are presented to our eyes in the form of classical symbols and

• divinities. Examples of this phase include Bacchus, the Lute

Player, Love Triumphant, John the Baptist and the Musicians. The chapter ends with a reversal of viewpoint. It is no longer the viewer that observes the fjgures but the fjgures that ob- serve the viewer with their living and languid gaze. NARCISSUS The painting of Narcissus, whose attribution is uncertain, features in a visual interval rich in magic and surprises. Narcissus is a man seeking to discover the created world. He observes the heavenly bodies and perhaps God but a sudden rainfall creates a pool on the ground. Narcissus looks down and discovers his own refmection. He thus fjnds beauty and the divine by observing earthly things rather than the fjrmament. He falls in love with his own fjgure, made visible to his eyes by refmection on the water in moonlight. But when he bends his head to kiss his refmection, the illusion of meeting is lost forever.

THEATRICALITY “I borrow bodies and objects. I paint them to remind myself of the magic of the balance that governs the entire universe. In this magic, my soul reverberates to the one sound that leads me to God.” The chapter on theatricality is designed to identify the com- positional and structural elements of the works, stripping the canvases of light and colour to reveal their essential forms fjrst of all. The position of the bodies, the balance of the fjgures, the choice of lighting, the white grounds of the can- vases, the structural and compositional elements, the geo- metric shapes and the three-dimensional depth of his works. The theatrical composition of all his works is demonstrated through a “three-dimensionalization” of space that affords in- sight into the real focal planes of his scenes and the expres- sions of the fjgures. These strongly recall Leonardo da Vinci’s studies on the “motions of the mind”, from which Caravaggio may have drawn inspiration. MEDUSA The drama of the instant in which Perseus beheads the Gorgon is rendered through the dilation of time and space. The moment captured on canvas by Caravaggio is stretched out for minutes and the last movements of the snakes before Medusa’s death ex- pand to invade the entire space and threaten the viewer. VIOLENCE Action and violence were part of Caravaggio’s life. The public executions, brawls in inns and alleys, vendettas, extreme acts and anguish that the young artist experienced and observed during his Roman years forced their way into his

• works. Violence was one of the many ingredients of the reality

that unfolded before his eyes and therefore could not be ex- cluded from his paintings. The use of contemporary models and characters accentuated this real aspect of the violent act.

THE PLACES The fascination of the artist is deeply rooted in his tor- mented existence. This chapter presents a chronological overview of Caravaggio’s life and art: the places where he lived, the legend of his wild life, the excesses, the dramas, the fmights and the dra- matic death of an anguished genius so close to our contempo- rary spirit. THE IMMORTAL ART OF CARAVAGGIO The man died but the legend lives on forever through the con- stant discovery and rediscovery of his works. We now enter a virtual gallery where we can fjnally observe, all together one again, the masterpieces that endow Caravaggio with immortali- ty.