A
NNIBALE FASAN
PAINTER AND SCULPTOR
CRITICAL NOTE. The
need to adapt the language of signs to the more immediate needs of scientific thought is
appreciated more and more - and has in fact become essential. Here we have a young artist
from Treviso, Annibale Fasan, who has been working in this direction for ten years. He has
been searching for those esthetic coordinates of a world vision which biology, physics,
mathematics and other sciences indicate today: an interest which pushes him beyond
traditional systems and, obviously, beyond a classical conception of art, though the
'media' he employs are the conventional ones of painting and sculpture, sometimes combined
and overlapping.
The artist's path began
about 1980 with a series of water-colours suggesting the direction of his search. The
references were to Kandinsky and Klee, but with a precisely defined meaning. What
interests him is the cellular structure of the sign-sketch, thus the obsession with
organic structures of clear formal perception. Kandinski, for example, is viewed more in
the Paris phase of the 1930s than in the Murnau one, by now classical.; Klee is viewed
more in the psychic architecture of signs than in the legendary appearance. And thus, in
this beginning, we cannot speak either of the abstract nor the figurative. The painting is
made to look for something entirely different: the cosmos and the microcosmos suggest
answers rather similar to the observations of a biologist while studying histological
slides under a microscope. There is a dynamic vibration which suggests the possibility of
a new perception of matter. The painter is right there, ready to propel his imagination
toward the detection of such signals.
After those first
results, Fasan continued to look into two complementary directions: on one hand, the
collection of experimentation in contemporary art, especially towards an expressionism
leading to results similar to those of certain transavanguards; on the other hand, the
fascinating horizons of science, not exluding fractals and mathematics in general.
We thus see pieces of
sculpture featuring cut surfaces and wood or metal additions which give the human figure a
rhythm different from the natural one, which introduces the figure into space in such a
way as to defy the very laws of gravity. Lightness, instability, even ambiguity: in some
cases, a semantics of the negative - that is to say a semantics of the void. At the same
time, the paintings continued on the road to interchangeable answers or solutions, with
materials and methods so different as to solicit an unconventional use of the painted
image: thus formal and colourful refinements are combined with the most brutal instincts
in an attempt to make inquiries far beyond the models already known. There appears as a
common denominator a conception of physical space as a structure of different cellular
entities held together by a mysterious solidifying force, a 'quid' which may probably be
understood as the very driving force of life.
We thereby arrive at
Fasan's most recent works. His paintings are the reflection of a rhythm which I might call
organic-cellular: with waves, bubbles, intersections, outgrowths, fermentations. The
conventional forms are overcome and the very laws of nature (especially the law of
gravity) are upset. In the molecular spaces, almost floating in amniotic liquid, we can
make out pieces of bodies, limbs, hands and faces. The sensation one has is that of
uneasiness: everything seems to contradict the parameters of our perception of reality,
forcing us into a new spatial-conceptual dimension. The shock is emphasized by several
aggressive perspectives (perhaps a hand reaching out) and by a sort of fluidity which
disturbs and alarms us, which blends and recreates the anthropomorphic shapes or
fitomorphic allusions. In some cases, to stress the negation of conventional space,
emerging from the painting there are bits of sculpture or inserted objects. This contrast
increases the semantic questionability, carrying it into a world where cosmos and
microcosmos resemble one another and cross paths, where the mind may conceive of a 'nexus
rerum', the possibility of organic interaction between differing experiences. And
paintings, water-colours, drawings, and sculpture indicate possible 'visions' of the
world, in which fascination and fear of the unknown - a sign perhaps of a subtle distress
- are translated into estranged dizziness.
On the subject of the
artist, Fasan likes to quote the definitions of Dionysian spirit in Nietsche: "It is
impossible for the Dionysian man not to understand any type of suggestion; he does not
leave unnoticed any emotive sign and possesses to an nth degree the instinct for
understanding and foretelling" (Twilight of the Gods). And it is just this panic
rapture which trusts Fasan onto the treacherous but fertile grounds of adventure, where
the borders between scientific theorizing and artistic intuition become etherial. And on
the ground, Fasan is looking for a synthesis perhaps utopian, but one whose glimmerings
and offshoots appear right before us in paintings so singular and fascinating. (Paolo
Rizzi)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. Annibale Fasan
was born in Treviso in 1956. He lives in Casier, P.Nenni Square and his studio is in Pio
X° Square (Tel. 0422-670087). He hold a diploma from the Liceo Artistico of Treviso, and
works as a professional painter, sculptor and art designer.
He presented personal exhibitions in Treviso in 1984, Brescia in 1985,
Venice and Bologna in 1987. Also he took part in several joint exhibitions in Italy and
abroad since 1974.
Several art writers produced articles and presentations, published in
newspapers, magazines, reviews and catalogues.
PERSONAL EXHIBITION. Annibale
Fasan presents here an exhibition of recent works inspired from Dante's
Inferno.
The expression path undertaken by the author takes the suggestions from
Dante's text to a visionary and evocative dimension, playing on all elements of the
'figurative object', from colour to material, from the special arrangement of shapes to
the type and function of the frame. The frame is an integral part ot the artwork: it takes
on the theme from the painting and works out, accompanied by counterpoint, its objectual
epilogue.
These works give a reading of 'the measure of excess' in Dante's Comedy.
The effect is seeked and pursued by pressing shape, light and the full pregnancy of the
text. And pregnant is the outcome: works full of drama and ironic vision, aimed at
communicating just 'the measure of excess'.
Colour is used by the artist like a rhytmic element: rhythm of each
complete individual work, not closed, nor episodic, but conceived and created as part of a
simphony.
Fasan's precise interpretation comes from four years of study of
medioeval time: philosophy, music, uses and arts. A fundamental knowledge and familiarity
to interpret the Comedy, essential to put his work in the right relation to Dante's time.
©1996 by Studio CaLion - Comments via e-mail to the webmaster@calion.com
The artist's path began
about 1980 with a series of water-colours suggesting the direction of his search. The
references were to Kandinsky and Klee, but with a precisely defined meaning. What
interests him is the cellular structure of the sign-sketch, thus the obsession with
organic structures of clear formal perception. Kandinski, for example, is viewed more in
the Paris phase of the 1930s than in the Murnau one, by now classical.; Klee is viewed
more in the psychic architecture of signs than in the legendary appearance. And thus, in
this beginning, we cannot speak either of the abstract nor the figurative. The painting is
made to look for something entirely different: the cosmos and the microcosmos suggest
answers rather similar to the observations of a biologist while studying histological
slides under a microscope. There is a dynamic vibration which suggests the possibility of
a new perception of matter. The painter is right there, ready to propel his imagination
toward the detection of such signals. 
