The exhibition space s.l.m.oo – zerozerosullivellodelmare, managed by the founder Lucio Rosato in Pescara, hosts the recent production of Nicola Costanzo, one of the main artists in the city. The curator of the exhibition is Ivan D’Alberto, theorist and historian of contemporary art and the organizer is the Art Agency – art consultancy. It is the manifesto of the last part of Costanzo’s career, born in 1936 in Pescara, where he worked as an engraver, xylographer and painter, as well as a teacher and essayist.
Nicola Costanzo, “Campo giallo”, mixed media on canvas, 93 x 128 x 4 cm, 2024, courtesy the artist
Therefore, the works on display are unpublished creations which enlighten Costanzo’s most recent artistic reflections. An essential expressive journey, pastel colours dissolving within the “white cube” created by Rosato, the painting experience becomes the heart of a research starting from afar. Ivan D’Alberto writes in the catalogue of the exhibition: «In this desire of zeroing and iconic purism the latest production of the author takes place. The artist, whose career is dotted with various aesthetic experiences and the use of several languages, reaches this phase because of a physiological necessity: rediscovering simplicity to achieve maximum refinement. In his paintings – the curator of the exhibition continues – not only “simple” constructions, but also examples of schemes and diagrams of modern society: squares and rectangles as “social cells” and lines as connections and networks».
Nicola Costanzo, “Così amici”, mixed media, 92 x 72 cm each, 2021, courtesy the artist
In fact, the essential unpublished works and bare connections represent the fruit of a research activity and pictorial investigation started by Nicola Costanzo because of the urgency to eliminate any unnecessary element for the communication of what is portrayed on canvas. The zeroing of shapes and colours and the consequent total absence of subjects within the paintings of the artist appear in a completely new role, by means of the combination of organic and geometrical elements, in addition to ornamental shapes. Costanzo takes inspiration from his personal history as an artist, mixes the elements and returns to the public a clean and linear pictorial experience.
Nicola Costanzo, “Volumi”, mixed media on canvas, 95 x 80 x 4 cm, 2023, courtesy the artist
According to Ivan D’Alberto critical interpretation, Nicola Costanzo duplicates and repeats shapes within his gaunt composition to obtain a result which, on the contrary, can offer outcomes from an emotional and meditative point of view. The declared aim of the works shown in s.l.m.oo – zerozerosullivellodelmare is from the very beginning to give a precise identity to his reflections, to bring on canvas what the curator defines «the final conquer of the identity of light and colour in their utmost state of tension». Sometimes Costanzo introduces more defined figures, such as solid geometric shapes fluctuating in space (usually a monochrome background which dissolves even more the contours of the objects within) other times he deals with real monochrome works or compositions where even the pictorial supports become expression of the renewed value as they are combined with one another, overlapped, wedged in a triumph of shapes and colours.
Nicola Costanzo, “Paradigma”, mixed media, 78.5×79.5 x 4 cm, Pescara 2022, courtesy the artist
The repetition of Costanzo’s works is a recent device in his art. The works on display were accomplished by the artist between 2020 and 2024. The lockdown represented a period of major changes both personal and social, not only as far as artists are concerned. However, artists have had the possibility to remain in their bubble, operating interior research which provided them with new hints which were possible because of the tragic situation we experienced few years ago. Meditation became for many artists a reason of reflection and a real relief valve: Nicola Costanzo’s works are the fruit of a positive tension that the artist has expertly transferred on his paintings. To accomplish this, he has experienced mixed techniques, he has enjoyed blending colours extracting shades and unexpected contrasts, he has repeated shapes as to return to a primordial stage of his own creativity, the phase you especially try when you are very young.
Nicola Costanzo, “Natura morta”, tempera on panel, 34 x 51 cm, 1965, courtesy of the artist
Basically, the exhibition in Pescara offers cues for a reflection on the research that led Costanzo to dig up his interior world, to find new incentives as a man and as an artist who is by now well known in the national and international scenery. This analysis shows that the essential is the culmination you can only reach through the study of all that is in support. The catalogue of the exhibition allows to analyse the single composition created for s.l.m.oo – zerozerosullivellodelmare through D’Alberto’s critical texts and accurate observations.
Francesco Pozzi
Info:
Nicola Costanzo solo show
curated by Ivan D’Alberto
19/10/2024 – 18/11/2024
s.l.m.oo – zerozerosullivellodelmare
Via dei Marrucini, 19/23 – Pescara
info@zerozerosullivellodelmare.it
is a contemporary art magazine since 1980
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