“Poetry in modern art”

The principle of the development of art itself is inherent in the conceptual and operational content of art. There is no doubt about art, and we refer in this specific case to the visual arts of painting and sculpture, being an integral part of culture which is continuously on the lookout for new horizons and continuously engaged in an ever extending study to acquire an ever better knowledge of the truth. And not only that. As part of its evolutionary process culture favours also new ways of life, new customs. new behaviour.

All scientific progress which has engaged humanity over the years is also obliged to the development of the arts as such in the sense of both proceeding with equal strides towards the ideal of perfection.

It is therefore indispensable that a good artist is more than ever attentive to the “signs of the times” and supports with his works of art everything that favours mankind on its cultural level. It follows that the currents of the present day or vanguard art have to be accepted as an expression of a final “conquest” of the intellectual world as such and as a valuable contribution to the growth of the cultural baggage inherited from our ancestors.

Therefore it is completely unreasonable to adhere solely to past traditions and refuse “a priori” every new artistic expression. Of course it is true that tradition and the learnings of the Masters of past centuries cannot just be ignored or abandoned out of principle. All that has been transmitted to us forms an irreplaceable wealth of valuable knowledge and is extremely useful to support the evolutionary process of arts’ development which we are discussing here. The academies and the art schools have independently come to an understanding of what the great artists have realised and, at the same time, of what is the source of acquiring the necessary technical knowledge of design and colour. Better still, the more these Masters are studied and the more we try to grasp their fundamental lessons for a correct imposition of a work of art (modern as well) the more valuable the oeuvre will be, intrinsic and stylistic. But that is not enough. The teachings of the masters of the past form, for each contemporary artist, a point of reference without, however, forming the motive of their personal inspiration and creativity. The latter results in part of the “visions” they have of the models transmitted to us up to now but, above all, time and again of the personality of a genius trying to provide a purely cultural incentive to the development of the arts. Only in this way can a painter or a sculptor call himself a real artist. by real artist, we mean precisely the artist who has acquired an experience by his direct contacts with past art and with those who have been its most valid interpreters and who is, at the same time, capable of transferring profound poetical sentiments to the ensemble of his painted or sculptured expressions.

All that has been said up to now can be attributed to the painter Eusebi, an artist who does not ignore the support of tradition and the knowledge as well as the techniques which have been handed down to us and is capable of realising a true evolution of his pictural art. His new way of conceiving art according to the requirements of contemporary art constitutes a new conquest and a new confirmation of the evolutionary concepts of both art and culture.

Consequently his works of art should be contemplated from this precise angle and with these precise intentions. One will thus notice how well Eusebi has succeeded to proceed towards paintings of a conceptual character starting from originally painting in a figurative way. This change has clearly not been easy, not even for him. Actually, every artist who is moved in his soul by the desire to present “something” positively new is always preoccupied by his progress having a real reason for existence. One is not concerned with novelty for novelty’s sake but with novelty as an incentive to progress towards more and more positive ideals.

There is no doubt about Eusebi having succeeded in his intent in this respect. Already confronting the paintings of several years ago with what is being realised today shows how his only objective has been to become a well marked personality (and that, if I may say so, is the starting point) in order to “construct” a pictural dialogue beyond compare with other artists.

Today we take part in a growth in the number of painters who, however, remain anonymous by lack of personal originality and a considerable part of whom showing themselves on the scene of modern art are getting easily mixed up with one another.

Not Eusebi. He, with his serious attentive and diligent research with the habit of try and try again and, above all, with the will to succeed in being an artist worthy of this name has obtained results profoundly admired and sincerely appreciated by all.

His painting, let us say this right away, is not immediately accessible: to access it requires a long time of reflection and concentration just like it has been required by the painter himself who did not come to his “discoveries” at first sight but only after long and most certainly difficult experiences. In this way the observer succeeds in penetrating into the innermost thoughts of the artist, and in doing so takes part in his creations.

Eusebi’ s world is one of reality turned imaginary by using harmonious forms’ sequences and vivid colouring. This is used to create a typical atmosphere characterised by the style of the artist, a style unique in its kind in which technical and compositional elements meet giving the total framework an intrinsic and more than enthralling force. One could talk of an informal style, however this would not provide an explanation since Eusebi construes forms in a clear and perfect way.

The use of different materials, which turn the painting into an authentic “basrelief”, has been intentional and in relation to the concepts of an idyll became a “poetical narrative”. And here the interpretation, which Eusebi intends to display with his works takes over. His is not only an elegant expression and nothing more so that we might find ourselves in front of a “composition”

without grammatical errors but nevertheless without content. But what would be the use? So, Eusebi invites the observer to penetrate the idea expressed by him with the images, to understand what might be the significance of these objects which he constructs on canvas, elaborates on and enriches with colours.

We are dealing with a necessary effort which in final analysis clarifies the thought already expressed concerning the contribution of art to culture. Every object used by Eusebi has its reasons for being there as well as its significance possibly limited by certain of its aspects (that means to those who do not succeed lo absorb it completely) but which offers nevertheless the possibility for further and very open interpretations.

This is an other positive feature of modem art in that it permits the observer to join his very own thoughts to those already expressed by the artist, thus becoming “cocreator’ of his work.

In any case it is very clear in these works by Eusebi how he relates to the current events of the time we live in, the chimera that present day man pursues and the preoccupation with possessing more that one could possibly desire (honestly or dishonestly) without ever paying attention to the tragic reality (strongly underlined by Eusebi) of the transitory nature of objects and of this world, of the infinitesimal value of possessions if not linked to something superior to man himself and to his ambitions. But in our opinion Eusebi demonstrates in this context a clear optimism in the reflection of his serene extrovert soul, his joy to live and create with his art (just like every one of us could do with his own aptitude and ability).

We encounter all that in the composite beauty of his colours which chase each other like luminous sequences and which flood each “aspect” (which is represented in the painting by objects insignificant in itself but more than eloquent within the work of art as such). It is exactly this brilliance of light which Eusebi succeeds to compose skilfully which, in a certain way, contains the key Io the poetic interpretation of his “basreliefs” To understand and fully “taste’ them means to understand and fully taste his inspiring poetry and his interpretative expression.

Concluding, although this discussion about an artist by now so rich in experience could be longer, we want to come back to our introduction in order to clearly underline how Eusebi makes such a valuable and precious contribution to our actual culture. It Is thanks to his art that we have the possibility to enlarge our knowledge of the present day modem artistic creativity.

In our mind the ‘images which artists of great fame have realised with their paintings are fixed and stable. But at present the artists of our century whilst continuing on the road traced by their distinguished predecessors propose us a further horizon to scrutinise:

the cultural horizon enlarged through the arts.

Eusebi belongs to those who offers us such a possibility. In all seriousness, we are grateful to him with all our heart and thank him.

Lino Lazzari