Barbara Grossato

With the exhibition Connessioni (Connections), Barbara Grossato presents her recent production centred on the relationship between thought, gesture and matter, in which each of the three elements establishes a bond of interdependence and, in a certain sense, also of inseparability with the other. The origin of this reciprocal relationship or, to put it better, ‘connection’ between abstract and concrete factors within the work is to be sought in the ideational phase, that is, when various possibilities and solutions already present themselves to the artist’s mind that foresee the interchange between inner states and the physical dimension of matter. In other words, in Grossato’s case, it is not only thought that triggers the creative process, and thus the logical-rational assumption that controls the action, but it is often the material, with its intrinsic qualities – form, colour, resistance, malleability – and its poetic attributes – lightness, strength, durability, transience – that becomes the vehicle for intuitions that play an important role in both the genesis and execution of the work. What is established, then, is a connection between external reality and the inner world, we might even say between nature within and nature without, meaning by nature both the totality of living things – the Aristotelian physis – and the principles on which these are based. This is enough to explain the ‘organic’ appeal of many of his sculptures and installations, which, while recalling the shape of a plant or a root, as well as the macroscopic organisation of the cosmos – think of the cycle Constellations – or the microscopic organisation of neural networks – as in the case of Synaptic Connections -, do not imitate nature, Hence the choice to use, for the most part, paper, rope, wire, metal, and thus materials that Grossato intervenes on, purging them of the superfluous, of what the human being has added to them, in order to reconnect them to their natural origin. It is in this way that the material, removed from daily use, rediscovers its lost connection with the living, in a passage that redeems it not only on an aesthetic level, but also on a symbolic one, as in an alchemic transformation. Simple recycled materials are transformed into ‘living’, pulsating, precious substance; they become like earth, a branch, a leaf, creatures that grow, breathe, feed. As if to say: from nature they come, to nature they return. And the artist’s warning is clear in reminding us of the importance, also for the human being, of this return to the source, which should not be confused with a generic environmentalism, but has the force of an experience that radically, and profoundly, changes the perception of oneself and the world around. This brings us to the other, fundamental connection that the works in the exhibition imply, that which the artist experiences every time, modelling, weaving, combining various materials, she feels nature living inside her, flowing through her veins, like sap in a tree, water in a cloud, light in a starry sky. One is never completely alone in the world, not even during artistic creation; on the contrary, in the very act of creation there is a strong feeling that invites one to consider oneself part of the whole, to immerse oneself in existence, in the flow of events. The artist – Grossato seems to say – cannot but be a ‘mutant’, welcoming the becoming of everything within and around, of the consciousness that changes with time, of the matter that transforms in his hands. It is useless, therefore, to strive to hold life back, to circumscribe it in a form or enclose it in a frame; on the contrary, one must let it flow, give it the space it needs. Some of the works in the exhibition dangle from above like lianas from a tree; aitre, they stretch out on the walls like climbing shrubs; still others, although framed or painted on canvas, suggest – with vibrant, moving brushstrokes of colour, unbounded by contours, or with various elements tuned to one another in changing, dynamic, open compositions – a continuous pulsing of vibrations that bounce from one point to another of the work and from one work to another, generating, in this way, a further connection between matter, surface, space. A tour that cannot end without also involving the visitor, calling him or her to connect, in turn, as the artist has already done, with the works and the context. Observe, linger, walk around; imagine being in a forest, with the works in place of branches, leaves and plants; or lying on the lawn admiring constellations as distant in time as they are close in cellular memory. Cum – nectare, therefore, which means to erase the distance between oneself and the world, but above all to create, through this union, a new, further space of dialogue, presence, sharing. This is what Grossato’s work invites us to do: to build connections, no matter whether real or imaginary, concrete or symbolic. What matters, instead, is that they are authentic, felt and above all deep: as deep as a breath or a night sky.

Daniela Pronestì