|
Over recent years
I have organized and curated an
annual exhibition of high quality
international art at the Estense
Castle in Ferrara. I am pleased to
say that this show has become a
greatly anticipated autumnal event
where artists, critics and the
public enjoy meeting and sharing,
not only the art, but the historic
greatness that is Ferrara.
Ferrara is a City that is very well
suited to the highest expressions of
culture and art. Not only does it
look back to the great statements of
the Renaissance through painters
like Pisanello, Mantegna and Cosmé
Tura, or poets like Boiardo, Ariosto
and Tasso, but also, in more recent
times, to the great father of the
Italian Metaphysical School of Art,
Giorgio De Chirico. Ferrara (the
city of silence) was the inspiration
of one of De Chirico’s enduring
masterpieces, ‘The Disturbing Muses’.
Besides viewing the glorious
architecture of the towns
Renaissance past, our visitors are
able to immerse themselves in the
silence of the cobbled alleys and
experience something of the ordinary
everyday past where so many souls
walked before. It is this deep sense
of history and its highly
significant monumental architecture
that has won the recognition of
Unesco and its designation as a
Humanity World Heritage Site.
From these feelings comes the title
of this exhibition, “Traces of
Memory”. It is an acknowledgement
and homage to the city of Ferrara
and, at the same time, an invitation
to artists to relate, consciously
and unconsciously, their own ‘sense
of history’. I am confident that
each artist expresses, through his
or her own heart and mind, a strong
and magical interpretation of this
theme.
I consider “Traces of Memory” as a
strong trait d’ union between my two
most recent exhibitions staged in
the same rooms at Castle Estense.
These shows were titled ‘Magic’ and
‘Spirit’. Both shows were
intrinsically connected to the
mystery and the magic. These
exhibitions brought together
multicultural meetings of great
importance. Each artist brought to
the show his or her own statement of
cultural growth and sensibilities
and happily met and engaged with a
greater communal spirit that
stretches around the globe. Many are
now firm friends and I take great
personal pride in being the catalyst
for such communication.
“Traces Of Memory” brings together a
vibrant interchange of artistic
emotions. Each artist expresses his
or her personal and unique
interpretation of intimate memories
and trace an exciting path for us to
follow through the exhibition.
As a curator, I have always been
fascinated by memory and how it
re-emerges through artistic
expression. It is a fundamental
aspect of all expression and,
especially in visual art; deepest
thoughts, perceptions, feelings and
remembrances often may become vital
and exquisite new visions into our
past. The highly suggestive
environment and scenery of Ferrara
and its great castle are a wonderful
artistic meeting point where past
plays against present, fact against
fiction, myth against truth and
fantasy against reality. It is here
that the viewer, as a piligrim, will
discover the traces of spiritual
knowledge.
Every artwork at this exhibition is
the result of deepest artistic
endeavour to project, from the
depths of the artist’s existence,
traces of their memory. It is my
hope that many viewers will
experience those traces and find
great joy in the intensity through
which such passions are expressed.
Once again, Ferrara proudly hosts a
manifestation of fine quality
Intenational art that we may all be
proud to experience. |
