Marco Cassani Catalogue

a solo ex h i b i t i o n b y m a r c o c a s s a n i

wake up olio su tela 200 x 140 cm 2008

2

artist sta te m e nt

The

work of Marco Cassani is constructed around the idea of a place of origin. The painter takes a physical and psychological journey, going profoundly into the man. Not to the primitivism but even further to the place before birth. To find the place of origin where things are still undefined. There, he starts to re-understanding the things and defines them according to his own experience. In this place, he is the Animula Vagula Blandula (these are Latin words written by Adriano, a Roman emperor. The meaning is: little soul, wandering and pale).

Through his paintings, the artist wants to share some of those things, those human aspects he has encountered during his voyage: the word, the house, the home, the meditation, the solitude, the unknown, the mother earth, the agriculture, the awakening, the death.

The painter believes that his paintings should always be open to the spectator’s interpretation. Therefore he does not provide a series of a well-defined paintings but only the traces of vague narration presented in a balanced proportion with his expression. He wants to invite the spectators to see closer, to get closer, to see through many different layers of his paintings. When they do, they would find those traces such as the small men, the organs, and the skulls. These little traces are intended to provoke curiosity, questions, thought and eventually to stimulate people to find their own definition of his paintings.

To create his paintings, Marco Cassani does not follow any methodologies of work.

The paintings were born from his initial ideas, from photographs, his sketches, stories, books, internet. Everything has a potential for inspiration, even from the progress of the painting itself. Sometimes there is a real dialogue between the painting and the painter.

Sometimes the painting suggests to the painter how to continue or how to finish the work.

As important as the inspirations is his intense research on materials and techniques.

He uses oil colours, acrylics, chalks, enamels, asphalt and mixing them to achieve some peculiar effect from the reaction produced by the mixture. This peculiar effects of mixed material that he calls “The stain� could be seen constantly on every of his work. He also

3

one day we will sleep oil enamel on canvas 69,5 x 108 cm 2009

uses various instruments to apply colours: pens, spatula, knives and rocks to achieve a new relationship with the colours. Marco Cassani does not have restriction of time when he works. A painting takes its time to finish; it could be one month, two or three months or even 15 months.

The first one of the paintings exhibited in this show was started in the beginning of 2008, a short time after he returned from his 3 months travel, living alone in a wood in Mexico. This travel plays important role in the spiritual aspect of his paintings.

In this exhibition, Marco Cassani presents a music created from his three months collaboration with an Italian musician. This music was created with a strong root to his art, using mathematical algorithm to bring the spectators deeper into his paintings.

Inside the paintings there is a little bit of everything of Marco’s life. It takes more than words to understand and feel them. It takes time. Like he says for the life: Feel with the heart, re-elaboration with the brain, and feel again with the heart. ---

4

wake up 2 (the time has passed) oil enamel on canvas 200 x 140 cm 2010

Island oil enamel acrylic on canvas 60 x 61 cm 2009

Almost ready olio su tela 60 x 61cm 2009

5

6

agricoltura

terra madre

oil on canvas

oil enamel on canvas

69,5 x 108 cm

69,5 x 108 cm

2009

2009

7

Animula vagula blandula oil enamel acrylic on canvas 69,5 x 108 cm 2010

8

h(OM)e oil enamel acrylic on canvas 149,5 x 67,5 cm 2010

9

organic word oil enamel on canvas 149,5 x 67,5 cm 2010

10

H.O.M.E. - Titanic oil on canvas 149,5 x 67,5 cm 2010

11

ma r c o c a s s a n i was born in Milan in 1981. He then studied painting at Accademia Belle Arti di Brera [Brera Academy of Art] in Milan. Marco currently works and lives in Indonesia and Italy.

e x h ib it i o n 2009 UNDERCOVER . Group Show curated by Mimmo Di Marzio .Galleria L’Archimede . Roma . Italy NEXT GENERATION . 30 Finalist Premio Patrizia Berlettani . curated by Roberto Milani, Galleria San Lorenzo . Milan . Italy LO STATO DELL’ARTE NEL 2009 . collective show . Galleria Obraz Arte Contemporanea . Milan . Italy WAY . Group Show . Atelier KKien . Milan . Italy UNDERCOVER . Group Show . Wannabee Gallery . Milan . Italy 2008 Lo stato dell’arte nel 2008 - collective show . Galleria Obraz Arte Contemporanea, Milan Bifocale Scomposta . Galleria Obraz Arte Contemporanea, Milan 2007 Lo stato dell’arte nel 2007 - collective show . Galleria Obraz Arte Contemporanea, Milan 2006 La Ballata di Woizzecco [The Dance of Woyzeck] . An experimental collaboration of painting and theatre . Teatro Litta, Milan 1 1/2 . Galerie Kunstsalon Sir Harald Art, Venlo, The Netherlands 2005 Come Falene [Als Nahtvlinders] . Galerie Kunstsalon Sir Harald Art, Venlo, The Netherlands 2004 Group Show . Galleria Santa Barbara, Milan 2002 L’utopia dell’ identita [The Utopia of Identity] . Museum of Science and Technology, Milan

unknown oil on canvas 149,5 x 67,5 cm 2010

catalogue for A Solo Exhibition by Marco Cassani Animula Vagula Blandula* *) It is in Latin meaning is little soul, wandering and pale. It was written

by Adriano, roman emperor.

July 2010

designed by Gamaliel W. Budiharga Kotasis Kamar Desain 3x3x3 Yogyakarta, Indonesia kotasis@kotasis.com www.kotasis.com

publisheD BY vivi yip art room Lot 2-3 The Promenade Jalan Warung Buncit Raya 98, Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia +62-21-79 00 480 vivi@viviyipartroom.com www.viviyipartroom.com

EDITION 500 copies

PRINTED IN INDONESIA