Giuseppe Gentili, the Charlie Chaplin of sculpture
"Beauty will be convulsive or will not be," Francis Bacon"
In a world dominated by communication and by spin doctors, artists no longer exercise any influence. In a society where the optically correct overlaps the politically correct there is no space for artists and thinkers. It remains then that the self-marginalization. An artist must beware of celebrities, must remain anonymous and lonely. [...] the real art, not the virtual market, it needs to regain possession of anonymity and poverty. " Some months ago, while I was reading and I shared fully these piercing reflections of Paul Virilio, a snapshot association of ideas led me to think about the dramatic work, solitary and many shocking aspects of Giuseppe Gentili, die artist could identify perfectly in those words. Officially and unjustly called Gentili has so far had full citizenship in today's contemporary art world, worldly, shiny, surface, all business and no substance, exemplarily represented by diamond-studded skull by Damien Hirst or dall'Hanging Heart Jeff Koons that broke all records for the award. After all, today in newspapers, on television but also among insiders talking about the actual creativity only in terms of money and market, if it were simply a product like any other. The aggressive marketing strategies in advertising prevailed and gold took the upper hand on the aura even in art. So, especially in Italy and especially Rome,
Gentili, flanked and refreshed only by the singular figure of a patron illuminated as Antonio Cargini, has chosen so far a sort of ascetic and fruitful self-marginalization from which it is surprisingly established a restless sculpture, torn, but especially deeply human. A sculpture made of iron and fire that expresses starkly ruthlessness, selfishness, hypocrisy and violence of a world constantly placed precisely on fire by old and new barbarians, not only through wars and massacres but even with that indifference that continually annihilating the weak, the powerless, and the poor.
This is, in a plastic research that arises spontaneously from a socket direct and uncompromising position, by a strong moral commitment on an irrepressible inner need, once the complaint, the scream, the spiritual communion with the marginalized and the least lucky. It is no coincidence that so far, with even excessive but admirable rigor, Marche artist created almost exclusively their own unique pieces to demonstrate clearly and contentiously its radical opposition to the concept of art as pervasive today's business. So, considering all these aspects, the Gentiles is now the prototype of the sculptor far from fashion, out of the art system, independent, outdated in a positive way because Maverick and concentrated exclusively and obsessively on their research instead on public relations. He is an artist who has worked fruitfully in the shadows and now can bring so much inner light authentic current creative system "moody, restless, rebellious - wrote Alvaro Valentini jealous of their own ideas and their own freedom. But, even tender, limpid, playful like a child that's been flying the kite and entrusted his dreams to the sky. "..........................continue
Whimsical, restless, jealous of their own ideas and their own freedom. But, even tender, limpid, playful like a child that's been flying the kite and entrusted his dreams to the sky. Giuseppe Gentili does not deny its human personality in revolt against any power or act of violence, injustice, oppression and its being a formidable creator of morphologies plastics and formal vivid amazement.
In this basic dichotomy, pervaded by an aesthetic feeling of pure invention and surprising dexterity, he continues to build his artistic universe, away from the conventions and constraints, voicing deep thoughts, image to the anxieties and expectations of humanity. And even the fabulous themes of onset, when operated in a farmhouse in the green countryside of his native Pollenza. In that workshop, flash of fire and odorous sulfur as the cave of Volcano, take the first body iron sculptures, prototypes of precious metals, installations of hard materials shaped by blowtorch with free expressive measure and genuine freshness.
They are stylized figures of warriors, anthropomorphic forms, mythical and allegorical characters wrapped in a surreal and slightly ironic, sculptures full of movement and momentum of striking eurhythmy spatial volumes and the ambivalence of solids and voids. And 'the creative period of the copper wire and iron rolled and welded together from which sprout unpredictable structures, organic beings and animals that are raised in the collective imagination of peoples totems. Even then Gentili denoted propensity to be a time traveller, a witness of existential events, and an interpreter of contemporary life.
They are this time also the first works of sacred art, like the Christ, that he feels in his heart and soul, and which depicts in infinite number and exemplary models, all original and authentic, as there can be the Shroud Face effectively made in a 'high expression of human and divine voltage, or as highlights II crucifix, skeletal system in the body, emaciated in the face, yet serene and consoling in the saving of mankind sacrifice. The artist lives with heavy transport the theme of the Cross, arriving to original and exclusive morphological outcomes, where the sense of intuition and craftsmanship are the perfect conjunction with the Gospel message.
They are this time also the first works of sacred art, like the Christ, that he feels in his heart and soul, and which depicts in infinite number and exemplary models, all original and authentic, as there can be the Shroud Face effectively made in a 'high expression of human and divine voltage, or as highlights II crucifix, skeletal system in the body, emaciated in the face, yet serene and consoling in the saving of mankind sacrifice.
The artist lives with heavy transport the theme of the Cross, arriving to original and exclusive morphological outcomes, where the sense of intuition and craftsmanship are the perfect conjunction with the Gospel message. They are this time also the first works of sacred art, like the Christ, that he feels in his heart and soul, and which depicts in infinite number and exemplary models, all original and authentic, as there can be the Shroud Face effectively made in a 'high expression of human and divine voltage, or as highlights II crucifix, skeletal system in the body, emaciated in the face, yet serene and consoling in the saving of mankind sacrifice.
The artist lives with heavy transport the theme of the Cross, arriving to original and exclusive morphological outcomes, where the sense of intuition and craftsmanship are the perfect conjunction with the Gospel message. As there may be the Shroud Face effectively rendered in high expression of human and divine voltage, or as highlights II crucifix, skeletal system in the body, emaciated in the face, yet serene and consoling in the saving of mankind sacrifice........continue
Criticism by Alvaro Valentini
This book for many reasons does not want to be either a collection of vast production. Nor a cookbook quite varied comments of his work. But rather brief help anyone to accompany you on a journey to which we can at will make a beginning and an end.
For my part I remember reading of Joseph Dear, before you get interested in his art, really. I came in to do this for those who feel the call one "damn" sculptor for his ability to get inside the soul of the people. Digging with iron arts and with the flame of a blowtorch in it. But to him I also got to hear, who in a sense he felt to go beyond the artistic profiles. He deserves the contact to his innate ability - and contagious obviously - do not leave indifferent.
My friendship with the artist and his work began almost accidentally. One day I went to visit his home workshop in the countryside of Camerino. With time. After that first visit, I began to thrill its history, its art, and especially it’s so unruly yet profound to live life, with his sense of man getting ready and available to any other similar. So I learned how to write a foreword to his work without understanding much of the art that I watched. Everything I always managed naturally. On several occasions on behalf of the teacher I've had to give the true meaning of his "word", the sculpture, a language that was and if possible longer mine. That of literature.
I have been in practice for him the interpreter of the shape of things.
And maybe that's why I still always easy to talk about what Gentili produces, although still difficult for me to comment on his art, making a judgment. If I were asked to do appellate me to an essay by Dimitri Karamazov, taken from The Rebel (1951). ln it I think I found the exact location for the artist: "Art and rebellion - that it seemed written especially for Gentile from Karamazov - will die only with the last man’ .....continue
Criticism by Daniele Pallotta
When you have heard a piece of mu-sic that moves you to tears, you can never forget it. The artist, in the pain-ful intensity of creation, has struck a chord that reverberates through the silence of time, casting a spell over emotions and imagination. There is nothing that better illustrates the work of the artist Giuseppe Gentili than Il suonatore di flauto, sculpted by him in 1.987 while he was living and working in Via Monterone, Spoleto. This piece, in steel and iron, constructed using a welding torch, epitomises the creation of poetry out of poverty. Il Suonatore was made using poor material, poor tools and with the poorest of subjects, but with an artistic result that is rich in poetry. There is a harmony in the simple lines of the piece that rise together from the base, creating depth, and then vanish into space. The face of the flautist is gazing upwards, pleading to heaven while, at the same time, he is playing his .flute so quickly that his fingers have blurred. His clothes, which have an ethereal beauty as y- seen in a dream, are made by an artist who suffers always the pain of creation. The image is a fragile one, resting on the .finest of filaments, like the centre point of a balance. It would take but little to destroy it. The sculptor Gentili is a great dreamer and every awakening for him is an enormous disappointment. He has the unmistakable genetic make-up of-the artist. For this reason, he is a true human being: genuine and therefore vulnerable as sensitive as the sudden fresh wind that warns of storms to come; honest and therefore alone; determined and so the subject of suspicion and hostility. For him, lip and art are fundamental, fused in a crucible of fire. They are inseparable and from them come images of iron, whole and fragmented, torn by suffering and yet pH of humanity. Every image has a power fill impact, leaving the viewer disturbed and uneasy but spiritually fulfilled. .....continue
Criticism by Pietro Amato
Photo Charlie Chaplin donated to the sculptor after the purchase of one of his works
