If sometimes the poetics of an artist is indefinable because his/her personality is also indefinable, in the case of Davide Benati we are faced with a definable art because the artist knows how to show himself definable. “Encantadas” – this is the poetic title of the exhibition hosted in Reggio Emilia at Palazzo Da Mosto, promoted by the Palazzo Magnani Foundation, curated by Walter Guadagnini – is an engaging solo exhibition of the artist born in Reggio Emilia in 1949. In Benati’s words: «For the title I was inspired by that magnificent reportage of the same name by Herman Melville on the Galapagos Islands». And this exhibition is truly a sort of reportage of a third creative phase of Davide Benati through about fifty works, some of which are unpublished.
Davide Benati, ph. credits outTherecollective, courtesy Fondazione Palazzo Magnani
«All these artworks are a gift to the city – said Nando Rinaldi, director of the Cultural Services of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, during the press preview – the gift of a local artist who acts as a cultural bridge between the West and the East». Davide Benati has made many trips to the East, especially to Nepal, so much so that Nepalese paper is prevalent in the artist’s works. «Davide Benati’s bond with our territory – said Maurizio Corradini, president of the Palazzo Magnani Foundation – is not limited to autobiographical data: this bond is so strong that today we can say that, thanks to him, we can enter artistic spaces that can be defined as intimacy». This creative intimacy is expressed in large spaces and the predilection for Nepalese paper on canvas: on the border between dream and reality, Benati’s acrylics, oils and watercolours manage to project themselves onto the visitor with the kindness of the artist and his creative process. «Davide Benati’s sensitivity is refined and, observing his works, one is emotionally filled with large doses of enchantment» told us Leonello Guidetti, president of the Manodori Foundation, that is, the organization that makes this location available to the Reggio Emilia area (and not only). The enchantment comes to us directly from the countless reflections of nature that Benati’s canvases emanate, in a continuous oscillation between gestures on canvas that tell us where to look.
Davide Benati, “Encantadas”, installation view at Palazzo da Mosto, Reggio Emilia, 2024, ph. credits outTherecollective, courtesy Fondazione Palazzo Magnani
«I have always been tied to the signs that I have encountered in my travels: it happened to me many times in Nepal, a reality that caused me deep emotional suffering during the devastating earthquake of 2015, and it also happened to me in Portugal, a reality that lives inside me also thanks to my friendship with Antonio Tabucchi», Benati dixit and in fact his artistic vocabulary is imbued with signs, sometimes brushstrokes, sometimes extroflexed, sometimes defragmented in powerful strokes on multiple panels: the triptych represents, in fact, a geometric constant of the artist’s art on canvas, in which the constants of enchantment and amazement are restored. «This exhibition traces a complete path of Davide Benati’s creativity. Among his many merits, in my opinion, stands out that of having transformed a vision of the world into a painting capable of illuminating with kindness», said Walter Guadagnini, curator of the exhibition. «His canvases are dreams between matter and light, they are the expression of an artistic adventure that has lasted almost half a century and that seems far from being fulfilled». Benati’s large canvases are illuminations full of the soul of a gentle artist who never occupies all the space but a part of it, in a game of abstractions that seems like lifeblood.
Davide Benati, “Encantadas”, installation view at Palazzo da Mosto, Reggio Emilia, 2024, ph. credits outTherecollective, courtesy Fondazione Palazzo Magnani
Talking about fifty works is a boring exercise and therefore we will give space to those that have most involved the writer. The result of a perfect installation, the exhibition winds through the rooms and two floors of Palazzo Da Mosto, with the enrichment of lecterns that illuminate the exhibition rooms with content written by intellectuals and enthusiasts of the word and art. The starting point for an in-depth knowledge of Davide Benati’s works could be that represented by the triptychs. The first to be described is the one that gives the title to the exhibition. “Encantadas” (2023) is a large watercolor on triptych that depicts luminous galaxies with an island shape (like Melville’s inspiring Galapagos). The effect is very dynamic, even with the watercolor technique the artist creates trails and streaks that involve the observer’s gaze. “Colibrì” (2022), “Dedalus” (2022), “Oasi dell’acqua amara” (2012), “Conversazioni” (2009) and “Tenebrocuore” (2003) demonstrate how the thinning out of the occupation of space has been a constant in Benati’s creative work for at least two decades. The last of the triptychs mentioned is in fact the one in which the canvas is completely immersed in the representation of a depiction that has nothing dark about it. Already in “Conversazioni” (a cycle of triptychs with the same title) the chromatic action occupies less space and, with Benati’s usual lightness, seems to float on the Nepalese paper, illuminating us with almost floral harmonies. The artist’s inner lyricism culminates in my opinion in the most recent triptychs, which acquire greater visual harmony and allow us to reach distant worlds with our imagination.
Davide Benati, “Encantadas”, installation view at Palazzo da Mosto, Reggio Emilia, 2024, ph. credits outTherecollective, courtesy Fondazione Palazzo Magnani
The diptych “Affiora” (1996) stands as an absolutely solid verb with its intrinsic fragility. Benati adds oil to watercolor and ‘contaminates’ the space with a sort of embryonic mixed technique also using papier-mâché. The effect is incredibly ethereal and disturbing like an oriental philosophical maxim that catapults us into a sacred thought through images. The search for delicate beauty and the artist’s interiority assert themselves as a constant feature of his creativity. “Celeste Impero” is a diptych from 1978 that demonstrates, also through the addition of ink, Benati’s minimal ability to launch luminosity and reflection of the soul. We are faced with bare maps where the sensation of dutiful silence asserts itself forcefully. Silence that adds pure poetry in the fluttering of a drapery or in the mystery of a calligraphic sign. A special mention must be given to the artistic material base of Davide Benati: the notebooks, a true palette of notes, an intimate and personal secret room in miniature of the large spaces, as precious as the many writings that philosophers, writers, intellectuals and art critics have dedicated to the artist.
Davide Benati, “Encantadas”, installation view at Palazzo da Mosto, Reggio Emilia, 2024, ph. credits outTherecollective, courtesy Fondazione Palazzo Magnani
The exhibition is accompanied by the catalogue published by Dario Cimorelli Editore and the Fondazione Palazzo Magnani, which includes a wide range of texts dedicated to the artist: we can find the signature of Antonio Tabucchi and also (the list is incomplete) Massimo Cacciari, Elena Pontiggia, Sandro Parmiggiani.
Info:
Davide Benati. Encantadas
07/12/2024 – 02/03/2025
Palazzo da Mosto
Via Giovanni Battista Mari, 7 – Reggio Emilia
www.palazzomagnani.it
I am Giovanni Crotti and I was born in June 1968 in Reggio Calabria to be reborn in June 2014 in Piacenza, the city where I live. My income is guaranteed by digital consultancy, and I then spend it largely on art and letterature: I have been and am a content curator and organizer of cultural events for artists, galleries and institutional spaces, as well as a writer of exhibition reviews, creatives of every era and books.
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