jueves, noviembre 24, 2011

Nicola de Maria









Interview with Nicola De Maria, by Andrea Ranghieri

We are here beneath the fresco of Nicola De Maria, who is here with us now. What did you intend to represent with this fresco, Mr. De Maria? What inspired you?

Here, we are above all beyond an art that has complexes of superiority over life. The expression of ancestral sentiments, of the spirit of creation, represents the seeding of the art and of the origin of the world. And so in this work I wanted to become a part of creation, expressing and fixing sentiments, above all love and harmony.

What is the basic message?

We are now in the field of a message that is deeper and stronger than the ephemera that dominates this world today, the message of the art speaks to the heart of human beings through the intensity of the painting, which is the most wonderful method by which to face the problem of man and of form without prejudices or ideologies. Painting, with its secrets, brings forth from within me the strengths of creation. Before starting the work, even I did not know how it would end, because the painting forms the painter, which is to say that the painting itself forms the work through the painter, because we artists are the instrument of creation that passes through us. It adopts us so that an idea of life can be expressed in the triumph of the art, which in fact keeps all its secrets intact.

Those who enter, however, are invited to change their sentiments, to perceive the message of the painting. It is a place of transition, of change. From the everyday, to reflection, debate, personal development. Where your fresco is located is exactly a passage between one place and another. Is this a correct interpretation? Is your work an invitation to change perception, sentiments?
The strength of the art is precisely in the exaltation of the vital sentiment. Those who pass through this place will undergo an increase in their vitality, which is the only real yardstick by which to understand a work of art. When I read a poem, and this is what I have learnt from Giacomo Leopardi, I perceive that a real work of art has the power to
increase the vital spirit that we feel when a new phenomenon is before us. I have worked here to create art and to increase the vital spirit of those who would pass through here.

What has this place transmitted to you?

I have been aware of the responsibility of this place, and I have embraced the idea of participating in this work because I believe that the economy is our enemy. The economy and wealth, if well managed, are strengths in the hands of good and generous men capable of destroying misery, illness, and the pain of existence, men's real enemies.

You mentioned that when Unicredito called you, it was in some way" revolutionary"…

Of course, it was a courageous choice, to close the door on the conformism of the politically correct and the art of the salons, as cold as marble, which is mainly expressed through the technical means of industry. Here, however, one man alone has worn out dozens of paintbrushes. Because only the person who gives his all can hope to achieve something, those who do not give all have nothing to give.

Who did you approach the work?

After starting, in the cold and in the dust, when I tried to deal immediately with the entire harmony of the work, I realised that I had to work centimetre by centimetre, with intensity and depth, to dominate the work in its full entirety.

Did you feel almost is you were attracted by your own work?

Yes, yes, yes. …as if I were expressing the secrets of life through art. Art is an encounter, an encounter in which there is the enchantment of a language that cannot be forgotten: art is the emotional revolution that enriches one with every new painting. Thus a work is created by oneself for oneself, but useful to all in the name of the enchantment and invention, so that harmony, peace and beauty, passing through happiness and pain, take over the entire universe.