Angela Madesani

Ad Lucem - Arte Contemporanea per Arvo Pärt (Towards the Light - Contemporary Art for Arvo Pärt) is an art catalogue to document an exhibition dedicated to the Estonian composer at the Studio la Città Gallery in Verona, Italy which was on display from October to November 2011. There is an additional same-titled magazine publication by photographer Michele Alberto Sereni which documents the gallery show opening on October 1, 2011 and an associated concert on October 8, 2011 by the Estonian vocal ensemble Vox Clamantis & its director Jaan-Eik Tulve and the I Virtuosi Italiani orchestra. You can see some of those later photographs (which also include background views of some of the Ad Lucem art works) at this Studio la Città Gallery pdf file.
The present hardcover catalogue contains photographs of the works on display at Ad Lucem by 10 contemporary Italian artists. Only one of these artists, photographer Roberto Masotti, is directly associated with Arvo Pärt himself. Masotti's contributions are prints selected from the black and white photos that he has been taking of the composer since the 1988 sessions for ECM's "Passio" recording. The other 9 artists produced their works without any reference or association to Pärt. Some of them, by Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), are from 1927 & 1928 and even predate Pärt's birth. The idea here, as expressed in the associated essay by exhibition curator Angela Madesani is of "elective affinities, of a common feeling and atmosphere." Works like Pier Paolo Calzolari's "Senza Titolo" (1970) with its white neons and white candles and Piero Manzoni's "Achrome" (1960-61) certainly are evocative of Pärt's pure, clean slate of sound. The most striking work for me is Giulio Paolini's sculpture "L'arte e lo Spazio" (1983), where a hand holds a book of plain white paper sheets which are opened fanlike with rocks embedded between every pair of pages.
This is a beautiful collection that is only slightly marred by some typos in both the Italian and the English essay text. The uncredited English translation is slightly stiff to read and has been made by someone unfamiliar with Pärt's life, e.g. Masotti's photos from Sejny, Poland are described as being from Pärt's home (which isn't even in the Italian text).… (plus d'informations)