Timia Edizioni
2021
pag 256
www.timiaedizioni.it
PREFACE
by Marcello Sestito
If the world around us could, in a single instant, reveal itself fully to consciousness, it would certainly take on the form of a work of art.
Neither a mathematical formula nor a semiotic paradox could provide a snapshot of what art offers by positioning itself as the human endeavor par excellence, unmatched even by the creator.
To keep this awareness alive—or, if you will, to ensure it is not forgotten—the artistic practice of Stefania Carrozzini presents itself as a gratuitous gesture toward a humanity that struggles to listen.
At least three attitudes animate Carrozzini’s spirit:
1 – An impalpable need for confrontation with themes that appear secondary only when viewed from an incorrect angle. This impulse moves her through time and space in search of artists and their works, as if she felt entirely at ease within this carousel of events and occurrences, convinced that a work cannot be separated from the artist who produced it.
2 – An inclination toward the different and the scarcely conformist, leading her into unexplored territories that awaken consciousness through the ignition of the gaze.
In other words, in her long and passionate work as an active critic, the themes she brings to the fore become almost theses that probe sociality and, often, the aggregative capacities of groups gathered under the same sky.
3 – An explorer of parallel universes, she moves with ease between Europe and America, absorbing and dispersing, channeling and retaining, dialoguing while maintaining the firmness of the words that will describe a work, an object, a figure. A healthy carrier of the virus of art, and therefore an ambassador across the two continents.
Yet, if all this were not enough to describe the courage of the author of this recent text—who attempts to account for a long process of shifts in art and its contemporary outcomes—it must be said that Stefania couples the attitudes listed above with an equal number of working methods that characterize her path.
Apprehensive yet daring, she ventures into the unknown of art like a pearl diver, always resurfacing with fruitful results. These anticipated methods are themselves contained in a trilogy:
1 – Stefania does not settle for merely describing the works of the artists she presents; she seeks to grasp their intimate traits. A kind of emotional courtship thus binds the critic to the artist, as if only from this dialogue could a spark of knowledge arise. An intense dialogue that prefigures a genuine approach to the work: an initiatory path not without obstacles.
2 – Passionate like few others, she invests all her femininity in her daily commitment, while a form of healthy naïveté draws her into uncertain territories where she slowly seeks structure, design, and an organic coherence capable of engaging with the state of the art. Even political commitment, I am certain, she attempts to translate into knowledge to be disseminated.
3 – The works she presents often share a common denominator, not only linked to the proposed theme but—more subtly, taken as a whole—aim to convey a unified and engaging message, fully aware that in art the sum does not make the whole of a single work, and yet she tenaciously insists on making a cultural path democratic and objectifiable.
The risk to be avoided is symmetrical. The aggregation of multiple subjects within an artistic manifestation, while on one hand assumes the social value of involvement, on the other risks diminishing that uniqueness of the work which, in the best cases, stands out from the crowd like a diamond in rock.
Does the contemporary—or today—reject attempts at uniqueness in the name of homogenization? We do not believe so. We believe the distinction is more subtle and implies further knowledge: history, or art history alone, is no longer sufficient. The heterotopia of the world, as Foucault had perfectly understood, demands total immersion in varied languages and multiple tendencies, under penalty of a kind of cultural dilettantism for which there is no longer any need.
The long tenure at D’Ars magazine, guided by the unforgettable Pierre Restany—which saw us involved in the editorial board for a very long time—has borne fruit. What was then a young, emerging art critic has today become a necessary figure for keeping Art on the alert, especially in an increasingly mediatized landscape where truth is worth as much as falsehood, where appearance counts more than being, where even death seems not to be truly death.
Milan, February 5, 2020
