Al fresco

AL FRESCO Curated by Ivana Malvoni, Lisa Torquato, Tatyana Valova

Florence University of the Arts Spring 2014

ALFRESCO INTRODUCTION

by Tatyana Valova AL FRESCO School has always been a place where you are bounded by some rules and restrictions; yet, it is also a place to create and express oneself. In an art school, students are encouraged to share ideas and develop specialized skills, to learn the rules and, often to break them, especially if the teachers are open to broadening the horizons of an everyday teaching vision. All these premises are shown at the exhibition Al fresco in Ganzo, the creative lab of Florence University of the Arts, starting on April 2, 2014 by students of FUA Fresco Painting class under the guidance of professor Paride Moretti.

The controversial point of this exhibition starts from its very beginning - the title. It goes without saying that it springs from the technique the art on display is produced, the fresco. The Italian language allows us to play with this word. In Italian affresco is a fresco by itself, while the Italian expression al fresco means “in jail”. It is natural therefore to question the use of these terms and expressions. At first sight, it may seem that there is not a real connection between them; however, fresco is a kind of painting made on the wall where the wall becomes an irreplaceable material element of the artwork. At the same time walls are parts of any prison. Artists express themselves by painting on a wall. And what do prisoners do when they have to spend many hours, years, or even decades, staying in one room where there is nothing except for the walls? They express their anger, fury, expectations, hopes and fears on the only thing they have, a wall. It will be interesting to see how the students interpret the merging of these separate yet close conceptual areas and how their individual ideas of the subject will be portrayed.

The ambiguity of the exhibition is also seen in the techniques that students used - fresco and graffiti. Fresco usually associates like an old way of producing art pieces, actively used since antique times and reached its highest level of popularity in 14th - 17th centuries. A fresco is made using pigments mixed with water painted onto a wall when the plaster is still wet. A fresco painted on dry plaster, called fresco secco, is less durable than a true fresco, or buon fresco.

Meanwhile, graffiti is a plural form of the Italian word graffito that means “a little scratch”. Sometimes it is also called sgraffito - writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.

So, these opposite on the first sight notions have been combined together to represent the ways of creating image on surfaces, in this particular case - on the walls.

One more essential point is the visual rendering of the idea. Students are quite free in their creative work, while the professor plays an important role to guide students in a clear direction. For this particular project, they have been given a lot of flexibility by professor Moretti. An exhibition that wants to embrace subjects and feelings as far as jail, walls, angers, and hopes, can include works which interprete these topics in many different ways. The students have had the option to work on their own piece, or in group, similarly to a Renaissance workshop. The walls for them are not only surfaces to paint on, but a kind of mirror that saves memories and moments of life. At this point, of their life in Italy.

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

Ivana Malvoni converses with professor Paride Moretti...

Al Fresco emerged from ideas of detention, jail, prison and memories that are forever trapped within containing walls.

Along with Lucia Giardino, FUA’s School of Fine Arts coordinator, Professor Paride Moretti developed the framework for the idea and presented it to his students. Characterized by flaws and imperfections, the physical wall serves as the subject implicit within the fresco, while also becoming a symbol for trapped memories. In relation to humans, walls have longer lives and may preserve stories through time. To start the project, professor Moretti encouraged his students to walk around Florence and observe the graffiti around the city. As a group, they came up with keywords and phrases that could be written on their final frescos to fit the main theme. Professor Moretti explained that the project developed in stages: following some initial confusion, the class talked about their projects, discussed their options and began to get more excited to create their frescos. Professor Moretti wanted the project to be very free and open-minded. Students were given the freedom to create images, words and express emotion without compromising their anonymity. There was a lot of discussion amongst the students about which path to take as a group collaboration. Professor Moretti encouraged them to bounce ideas off one another to create the best possible outcome.

Four large panels will be on display at Ganzo and some will be cut to adjust to the space. These finished works will be the evidence of a successful and inspirational project for Professor Moretti and his Fresco Painting class.

Lisa Torquato converses with some of the student artists….

What an extraordinary opportunity to learn to create frescoes in Florence, Italy as part of your college study abroad program! As one student commented, it is the same place where some of the greatest masters of fresco painting lived and completed their work. The student artists of the Al Fresco exhibit will readily admit that prior to their class with Professor Moretti, they assumed the word “fresco” referred only to Renaissance works one sees in big cathedrals and imposing political buildings. Al Fresco artist, Kennedy Bailey, explains this commonly held point of view by saying,“As an American, fresco painting has always come with this implied grandeur of images of Holy figures and spiritual scenes with idealized nudes and angels; while jails have been depicted as dingy and vandalized. I find the connection quite ironic and vocal since we are taking an old, “sacred” form of art to depict images and texts of political and anti political vandalism. Almost taking the power of fresco to speak of a new grandeur language.”Professor Moretti knew that connecting this word fresco to the Italian term al fresco, meaning “jail,” would be a difficult task for students.

So he decided to give his painting class immense freedom when deciding how to go about the project. By putting the students in groups, the project became all about group brainstorming, communication, and coming to an agreement about how to approach the topic. Mirko Erspamer, Al Fresco student artist, commented that this project format allowed for his group’s ideas and designs to develop continuously as they moved along through the art piece, ultimately coming to a culmination as the finished frescos being put on exhibit.

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

Untitled, detail, 2m x 1m, mixed media (fresco, sgraffito, mural painting), 2014

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Al Fresco R ashed Al-Alban, K ennedy Bailey, M ir k o Erspamer, M ichael Iannelli, M ar y K elly, Casey M cCoy, M cK enna Murray, M adlyn Thone, M adeline Warner – Fresco Painting Class, Semester Spring 2014, prof. Paride M oretti Curated by Tat yana Valova

Assistant curators I vana M alvoni, Lisa Torquato, F_AIR G anzo Collec tive 2 April – 6 M ay 2014, G anzo, Florence

Catalog Tex ts Tat yana Valova and I vana M alvoni, Lisa Torquato, F_AIR G anzo Collec tive

Graphics Alber to Simoncioni

Photo credits Lama K addura, Paride M oretti

Logistic, Management, and Technical Support F_AIR G anzo Collec tive

Welcome Speak er Lisa Torquato

Press O ffice Palazzi Susanna Bausi

A special thanks to G abriella G anugi – President of Palazzi and Florence Universit y of The Ar ts

G anzo and its great staff F_AIR G anzo Collec tive is a selec ted group of students of Florence Universit y of the Ar ts, which manages, organizes, and curates exhibitions and ar t events. Coordinated by Lucia Giardino and Antonio Locafaro, Spring 2014 F_AIR - G anzo Collec tive includes students I vana M alvoni, Lisa Torquato and Tat yana Valova.