Magic: at first this theme could appear obsolete and out of style, yet the Magic and Esoteric is an important element in the Arts as well as in our daily life, since we cannot separate Art and Life.

Emotions stirred by artwork are part of Magic, so are the beauty and poetry suggested through a landscape – created by the impulses and inner reality of the Artist when he organizes them on a canvas - , the surreal and fantastic dimensions of our mind in all of its expressions are intimately connected to our inconscious which is a magical world.
Memory and memories are magic traces of our reality. Art is magic as it has the unlimited power of its pictorial vocabulary at its disposal in the act of creating. In this way Art is akin to Life because it is a Creation.

The curators would like to underline an important aspect we lingered on during the exhibition title choice, such as the magic components of the painting as art making.
It is our aim, in fact, to invite artists to focus on all the facets of the proposed theme, because Magic reveals itself through the power and brightness of colours, through the different effects of forms, the textures, the pictorial matter, the magnetic energy from the pictorial sign which spring from the canvas. So that the creation of images as well as the invention and elaboration of space and colours are part of the intrinsic elements of the art making process.
Thus Magic is released through the flow of the living and acting forces on the canvas, the interaction of space, figures and colour connection, taking them to their physical limits.

It is not pure chance the selected city to host this important Exhibition is
Ferrara.
The magic city per excellence together with Prague and Torino, not only for her beauty but above all because in the Medieval period she was the last stronghold of Alchemy and Astrology.
Even today, going around through Ferrara’s ancient streets, visiting her palaces and special places, admiring the frescoes and formidable paintings, lingering in churches and convents, we can feel signs of this presence.
Again, not by chance, the Estense city gave birth to the alchemy artist Cosmé Tura and she is proud of the legendary magician Chiozzino, a kind of Faust from Ferrara, who signed a pact with the devil. Worth mentioning as well is the fact that Ferrara was the city which inspired Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà during their metaphysical period.

The exhibition aims to be related with Magic as an element very much present in most different cultures and ages, particularly during the Middle Ages and still today where it represents a strong source of fascination and suggestion in our artistic world still. The magical is a fascinating component of our existence and this manifestation represents an invitation to go without fear towards that side which is not necessarily dark, unknown and sinister but also a wonderful discovery of a parallel reality, able to help us understand and interpret particular aspects, events and coincidences. Thanks to their talent and sensitivity, artists are the best interpreters of Nature and Reality. Their creative work is an alchemy of sorts mixing indeed several components unknown to the public and producing strong feelings, attraction; an alphabet for reading the world and its signs.

“Magic” wishes to rediscover, stimulate and bring forth the unlimited possibilities of Art. Artists reveal themselves as the sensitive intermediaries between reality and the unknown, when through their aesthetic journeys they are in touch with the mystery of life, its spirits and divinities .

The beautiful and evocative setting provided by the "Imbarcadero Rooms" of the historic Estense Castle will contribute to set up a greatly suggestive scenery in a variegated range of sensations and emotions.

The organizers, as usual during the Exhibitions at the Estenese Castle, will select and bring together artists representative of this kind of spiritual and artistic research connected with the magic theme and who still believe in the emotional possibilities that this art offers. The range of expressive forms can be extremely wide and varied: painting, sculpture, photography, digital art, installations and graphic art.

On this artistic and cultural occasion, the Jury will award the "Ercole d’Este" Prize to the four artists who will show the most significant artworks during the Exhibition.
The curators will also make sure to involve Institutions, critics, operators, collectors, press and specialized media, underlining how they approach the cultural and marketing side of the event, which is an inseparable aspect of contemporary art.

In “Magic” we will go into a path rich in mistery, magic and in that obscure beauty which nvelops the universe – illusive or real – represented by artists.

Paola Trevisan