MAR (Giancarlo Mariani), ha frequentato corsi di studio dell’ Istituto d’Arte e del Conservatorio di Musica di Firenze, partecipando a numerose iniziative. Dal 1985, la ricerca di un’ attività economicamente più stabile lo ha portato a partecipare alla realizzazione di scenografie per il Teatro e l’ Opera Lirica. Nel 1987 inizia a collaborare con il Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino e nel 1997 vince un concorso come scenografo presso questo Teatro. La lunga attività nel campo della scenografia gli ha permesso di incontrare e collaborare con artisti come Arnaldo Pomodoro, Gino De Dominicis, David Hockney…e registi come Bob Wilson, Luca Ronconi, Peter Greenway… Il forzato Lockdown causato dal Covid 19, lo ha portato a riprendere una ricerca personale.
2022 - Partecipazione a “ Il Sacro e la Fragilità “ dal 04/06/ al 16/10/2022, Rodello (Cuneo)
Mostra personale, “MARnero” Villa Pozzolini, Dicembre 2022 , Firenze
2023 - Partecipazione a “GattArt” Villa Vogel, Febbraio 2023 - Firenze
Partecipazione a “ Walk on Rights “ di, Amnesty International Lombardia.
Selezionato tra i 12 Finalisti di “contemporaneamente SAPORI e ARTE”
Mostra Collettiva, spazio espositivo Pallavicini22, 23/09 - 01/10/2023 - Ravenna
2024 - Mostra Collettiva, “ a Tutte le Donne”, 08/03 - 16/03/ 2024 , None - Torino
Quando nella solitudine del Lockdown del 2020 ho cercato dei fogli per disegnare, non avevo idea di cosa rappresentare.Ho iniziato con dei corpi femminili, dopo qualche giorno mi sono fermato. ECCO: non vorrai mica rimetterti a dipingere ! Sei vecchio, non hai spazio, i colori sporcano, farai confusione e i fogli e le tele finiranno da ogni parte sopra e sotto i mobili. Dopo tanti anni di lavoro in grandi spazi e su tele di 20 metri per 14, il pensiero di “fare in casa”un quadro di 50 x 70 cm. mi bloccava. Sono dovuto venire a patti con il mio doppio non artistico: Solo cartoncini neri di 35 x 50 cm. solo colori neri o scuri, NIENTE olio o vernici puzzolenti…una scelta “penitenziale”. Va bene proviamo, inizio, ma si vede poco o nulla, disegnare sul nero è un casino!!! Ho proseguito in modo discontinuo, intanto la casa era in un disordine e scarsa pulizia impressionante; ho dovuto fermarmi. Basta, Stop. Poi “il caso”: mi telefona mia figlia , “…c’è una tizia che cerca dipinti , non è che hai qualcosa ?” Mi difendo , “ho solo cose molto vecchie , ora sto provando a fare cose diverse…”, “Va bene fotografale e mandamele”. Uffa , vado nel fondo a ricercare cose con più di 20 anni , aggiungo qualche foto dei neri per dare corpo al magro portfolio…. Circa un mese dopo ritelefona mia figlia, “ gli interessa uno dei neri, vuole sapere quanto costa”….Ed ora eccomi qui a cercare conferme.
When asked on commenting again on the work of this Artist: I have always had the highest regard for those who work with commitment and truthfully,” Arbeit Macht Frei”, and therefore in this case I share the commitment of those who have chosen a difficult and unsatisfying path in order to explore the darkness within and without ourselves, seemingly elementary of traditional ways. A constant presence of the human hand手 can suggest an immediate message, but it is the space that the hand reclaims and in which is soaked :Often mysterious and unfigurative, ambiguous and intriguing at the same time tothe point of contradicting initial understanding.” They are everything and the opposite of everything “.These works enter territories colonized by other Artists, but there are still enormous space to explore . The choice of a limited rainbow of colors should not be misleading, the use of dark shades is proved not being a conditioning but rather an opportunity to concentrate, to refine perception. In Tanizaki Junichiro’s 陰翳礼讃 “inei rasan”,he wrote: The West believes in progress, and wants to change its status. He went from candle to oil, to oil to gas, from gas to electricity, chasing a clarity that would eliminate even the last particle of shadow…”, and again, “let us let the darkness swallow us up, and discover a Beauty in them.”In MAR (giancarlo mariani) few materials are used: poor in material but rich in significance, they reveal timeless spaces. An Artist who has lived his life immersed in colors , now find in black 黒, “mother of all colors “, the opportunity to grasp himself. Today: in some of the most celebrated artists of the western world we witness an undeclared return to the world of the “Baroque period”, what is sought is “ The Effect “, the concepts of beauty and formal content, terms which have now become obsolete and looked with derision and suspicion. Many artists are only interested in surprising using mirror of all kinds, optical aberration and today digital games; they are the direct descendant of Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680). Previously these effects were relegated to Amusement park and Theater set, today they are protagonist in large international art exhibitions and the selfies it is a sign of success. Going back to talking about MAR’s works: they follow other paths, they don’t want entertain; to make others diverge from the eternal questions about the meaning of human existence and beyond, they want to enter the shadows without fears and premonitions, they travel armed just with their own smile. In these work also emerges a strong need for material dictated by his profound training as a sculptor, he engraves, embosses the paper, adds wrinkles, earth and lava that flow from the inside. As I have already written: These works require the experience of a direct vision, a participation on the part of the visitor, indifference is not allowed! Looking, and being looked at by these paintings, is a “JOB”! like what you do with a Psychoanalyst or when you pray looking for the meaning of Life. The darkness in MAR is not synonymous with fear or anguish but, a moment of passage towards other dimension, similar to : The Shadow Line, by Józef Teodor Konrad (1917), a moment that marks the abandonment of adolescence with the transition to adulthood, a moment that is the immersion in the dark matter that forms the Universe. In the black the lack of colors require concentration, we cannot be superficial or distracted, in the black, perception, emotion expands, and the public can discover things that even the author himself was unaware of.
Alfredo Schwarz
2022 - Partecipazione a “ Il Sacro e la Fragilità “ dal 04/06/ al 16/10/2022, Rodello (Cuneo)
Mostra personale, “MARnero” Villa Pozzolini, Dicembre 2022 , Firenze
2023 - Partecipazione a “GattArt” Villa Vogel, Febbraio 2023 - Firenze
Partecipazione a “ Walk on Rights “ di, Amnesty International Lombardia.
Selezionato tra i 12 Finalisti di “contemporaneamente SAPORI e ARTE”
Mostra Collettiva, spazio espositivo Pallavicini22, 23/09 - 01/10/2023 - Ravenna
2024 - Mostra Collettiva, “ a Tutte le Donne”, 08/03 - 16/03/ 2024 , None - Torino
Quando nella solitudine del Lockdown del 2020 ho cercato dei fogli per disegnare, non avevo idea di cosa rappresentare.Ho iniziato con dei corpi femminili, dopo qualche giorno mi sono fermato. ECCO: non vorrai mica rimetterti a dipingere ! Sei vecchio, non hai spazio, i colori sporcano, farai confusione e i fogli e le tele finiranno da ogni parte sopra e sotto i mobili. Dopo tanti anni di lavoro in grandi spazi e su tele di 20 metri per 14, il pensiero di “fare in casa”un quadro di 50 x 70 cm. mi bloccava. Sono dovuto venire a patti con il mio doppio non artistico: Solo cartoncini neri di 35 x 50 cm. solo colori neri o scuri, NIENTE olio o vernici puzzolenti…una scelta “penitenziale”. Va bene proviamo, inizio, ma si vede poco o nulla, disegnare sul nero è un casino!!! Ho proseguito in modo discontinuo, intanto la casa era in un disordine e scarsa pulizia impressionante; ho dovuto fermarmi. Basta, Stop. Poi “il caso”: mi telefona mia figlia , “…c’è una tizia che cerca dipinti , non è che hai qualcosa ?” Mi difendo , “ho solo cose molto vecchie , ora sto provando a fare cose diverse…”, “Va bene fotografale e mandamele”. Uffa , vado nel fondo a ricercare cose con più di 20 anni , aggiungo qualche foto dei neri per dare corpo al magro portfolio…. Circa un mese dopo ritelefona mia figlia, “ gli interessa uno dei neri, vuole sapere quanto costa”….Ed ora eccomi qui a cercare conferme.
When asked on commenting again on the work of this Artist: I have always had the highest regard for those who work with commitment and truthfully,” Arbeit Macht Frei”, and therefore in this case I share the commitment of those who have chosen a difficult and unsatisfying path in order to explore the darkness within and without ourselves, seemingly elementary of traditional ways. A constant presence of the human hand手 can suggest an immediate message, but it is the space that the hand reclaims and in which is soaked :Often mysterious and unfigurative, ambiguous and intriguing at the same time tothe point of contradicting initial understanding.” They are everything and the opposite of everything “.These works enter territories colonized by other Artists, but there are still enormous space to explore . The choice of a limited rainbow of colors should not be misleading, the use of dark shades is proved not being a conditioning but rather an opportunity to concentrate, to refine perception. In Tanizaki Junichiro’s 陰翳礼讃 “inei rasan”,he wrote: The West believes in progress, and wants to change its status. He went from candle to oil, to oil to gas, from gas to electricity, chasing a clarity that would eliminate even the last particle of shadow…”, and again, “let us let the darkness swallow us up, and discover a Beauty in them.”In MAR (giancarlo mariani) few materials are used: poor in material but rich in significance, they reveal timeless spaces. An Artist who has lived his life immersed in colors , now find in black 黒, “mother of all colors “, the opportunity to grasp himself. Today: in some of the most celebrated artists of the western world we witness an undeclared return to the world of the “Baroque period”, what is sought is “ The Effect “, the concepts of beauty and formal content, terms which have now become obsolete and looked with derision and suspicion. Many artists are only interested in surprising using mirror of all kinds, optical aberration and today digital games; they are the direct descendant of Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680). Previously these effects were relegated to Amusement park and Theater set, today they are protagonist in large international art exhibitions and the selfies it is a sign of success. Going back to talking about MAR’s works: they follow other paths, they don’t want entertain; to make others diverge from the eternal questions about the meaning of human existence and beyond, they want to enter the shadows without fears and premonitions, they travel armed just with their own smile. In these work also emerges a strong need for material dictated by his profound training as a sculptor, he engraves, embosses the paper, adds wrinkles, earth and lava that flow from the inside. As I have already written: These works require the experience of a direct vision, a participation on the part of the visitor, indifference is not allowed! Looking, and being looked at by these paintings, is a “JOB”! like what you do with a Psychoanalyst or when you pray looking for the meaning of Life. The darkness in MAR is not synonymous with fear or anguish but, a moment of passage towards other dimension, similar to : The Shadow Line, by Józef Teodor Konrad (1917), a moment that marks the abandonment of adolescence with the transition to adulthood, a moment that is the immersion in the dark matter that forms the Universe. In the black the lack of colors require concentration, we cannot be superficial or distracted, in the black, perception, emotion expands, and the public can discover things that even the author himself was unaware of.
Alfredo Schwarz
