- Sito personale dell'artista Giuseppe Salvatori

Giuseppe salvatori, was born in Rome in 1955 and still lives and works there. His debut, at the age of 23, was at the S. Agata de’ Goti Gallery in Rome. In 1979 he exhibited at the Studio Cannaviello in Milan, and in 1980 at the Il Collezionista Gallery in Rome. In 1981 he exhibited at the Menzio Gallery in Turin and the Minini Gallery in Milan; in 1982 at the Il Capricorno Gallery in Venice; in 1984 at the Dell’Oca Gallery in Rome; in 1985 at the La Nuova Pesa Gallery in Rome; and in 1987 at the Il Milione Gallery in Milan. In 1990 he exhibited at the Menzio Gallery in Turin; in 2000 at the Marchetti Gallery in Rome in 2003 at the Ficara Gallery in Florence

He has had many group exhibitions; in 1980 Italiana; la nuova immagine at the Pinacoteca Comunale in Ravenna, and Dieci anni dopo: I nuovi nuovi at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna in Bologna; in 1981 came La qualità at the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea in Ferrara and Iconaidea at the Mario Diacono Gallery in Rome; in 1982 Una generazione postmoderna in Genoa; in 1983 Omaggio a Emily Dickinson at the Menzio Gallery, La postcritica at the Palazzo Lanfranchi in Pisa, Una generazione postmoderna at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, Arte italiana 1960-1980 at the head-quarters of the Banca Commerciale Italiana in New York, and Sima at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice; in 1984 Le città del mondo (The cities of the world) at Volpaia and Sale d’arte Contemporanea in Reggio Emilia; in 1985 Anniottanta at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna in Bologna and Ricognizione ’80-’85 at Erice. In 1986 he exhibited in Aspetti dell’Arte italiana 1960-1985 at the Kunstverein in Frankfurt, Un panorama di tendenze at Hadrian’s Mausoleum in Rome, Paesaggio senza territorio at the Castello Estense in Mesola, and Artisti italiani contemporanei 1956-1986 at the Studio Barnabò in Venice.

In 1987 La natura morta at the Castello Estense in Mesola, ad Innomi at Palazzetto Luciani, Cori. In 1989 Orientamenti dell’arte italiana at Mosca. In 1990 XLIV Biennale di Venezia. In 1993 Tutte le strade portano a Roma? at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma. In 1996 Atti 1996 at Università di Roma. In 1998 Opera e identità at Museo Pecci, Prato. In 2000 L’altra metà del cielo at Museo Rupertinorum, Salisburgo. In 2004 Misteri di Roma at Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Roma. In 2006 Murale at Studio Angeletti, Roma.

Critics who have written about his work include: R. Barilli, R. Lambarelli, M. Diacono, R. Daolio, A. B. Oliva, V. Bramanti, F. Caroli, G. Appella, V. Sgarbi and T. Trini Salvatori’s imaginations is full of clarity and honesty. There are no dark moments in either his thought or his brushwork. Everything is polished and clearly-defined, and one wonders whether he might in fact be neo-Flemish. Even his colours are crystal-clear, with a resonant sincerity.

 

Critical Comment

The heart of Salvatori’s painting lies in an incessant movement back and forth from the antique to the future, which is also a mixture of candour and wisdom, of ingenuity and sophistication, of refound innocence and diabolically subtle calculation. All these contrasting virtues are present in Salvatori, pushed to their extreme. In one way, the return to the past is clearly visible in his work: a very remote past, which may be that of four-teenth-century days, perhaps already hinting at the birth of the Renaissance; or maybe that of Byzantine icons, mosaics of Ravenna, or many other episodes of ancient art.

What is important is to avoid the unbearable swelling of illusionism, of art which simulates bodies with their encumbrances, and which attempts above all to acquire the third dimension, to suggest shadows and sculptural relief.

The art of Salvatori is aided in this sense by a rich line of predecessors, justified in its sober qualities, perfect immobility and mystical quiet. And so we understand the reasons which lead the artist to this serene design, almost computer-like, of the perfect outilines of little trees, still lifes, building and architectural forms: with a sort of reciprocal exchange of codes, so that the things of Nature (trees and fruit) are depicted according to an artificial code, the result of studied calculations and complex equations. Whilst the architectural forms, in turn, are endowed with a purity and a splendour worthy of natural fruit:?as if they where limestone concretions, valves of molluscs, ortortoise-shells. There is non point trying to express, through the imperfect medium of words, the elegange or the inexorable quality of these graphic structures, these outline which “tempt” space, in the search for the most balanced positions, thought not without an element of risk, and of imbalance, considering that beauty is never exactly the offspring of perfection, but always requires a share or irregularity.

Renato Barilli