The sacred and the profane mix in peculiarly modern works
Female seduction is one of the main traits of Cinzia Pellin’s art, which addresses subjects with a narrative approach that goes beyond pure description and focuses on a look, an attitude, or the refined atmosphere of the portrayed story. In Le tentazioni, the exhibition that has recently taken place at Galata Museo del Mare in Genoa, the sacred and the profane meet in a moment of peculiar modernity; Christ performs the Eucharistic rite surrounded by contemporary beautiful maidens. In the exhibition catalogue, Luciano Caprile writes: “The Saviour, wrapped in a snow-white robe that seems to be there to protect him from the surrounding world, (...) is not disturbed by the seductive attitudes of those around him. His gaze is fixed on us, who look at him with a full understanding of the role of those temptresses, as they are a part of our daily reality”. Caprile is talking about Il sacrificio, one of the most meaningful works featured in the exhibition.
Seductresses whose charms are hardly avoidable, just like those of the mermaids in virgil's works
Images are mainly blackand- white, a feature that enhances gestures and contrasts. Moreover, the background is as dark as night, allowing the artist to avoid spatial references and vanishing points. In this context, some elements – such as the hair, a detail in the garments, or the sensual redness of the lips of some of the portrayed people – are highlighted using red. That’s the case with L’angelo del peccato, a woman who looks at us with eyes of ice and provokes us with vermilion lips and lustful attitudes that emerge in the showing of a large breast that is barely kept by a corset, and with L’anima e il sangue, where Christ offers a glass of wine that represents the way of salvation as opposed to the skull of everlasting death that lies on the table. But our world is full of deviant occasions and traps that human fragility can hardly avoid: Seduzione e complicità portrays three examples of seductresses whose charms are hardly avoidable, exactly like those of the mermaids in Virgil’s works.
In this context of seductive provocation, one figure is in contrast with the general atmosphere. The work is called La luce della speranza and portrays one of these tempting figures trying to make amend for certain reprehensible behaviours by turning her eyes to heaven and donating a rose to it. Cinzia Pellin took the peremptory path of beautiful painting to address a difficult and perennially topical theme whose meanings expand beyond the faith of those who believe in God and reach the steps of a life that constantly offers illusory escapes in the form of ephemeral pleasure. At the expense of certain incorruptible and inalienable values that are linked to the deepest and most authentic meaning of life itself. A lesson and a warning emerge from the black curtain that surrounds every painting, accompanying the deep mystery of our existence.
Pellin
Le tentazioni
Galata Museo del mare
Curated by
Luciano Caprile
