prolearningcentre.com · in 1871, when he was 17 years old, the poet arthur rimbaud wrote the...

ARIA RTGALLERY

A

LONDONFLORENCE

Nel 1871, a 17 anni, il poeta Arthur Rimbaud scrisse il sonetto Vo-cali (Voyelles) in cui associava i suoni vocalici ad alcuni colori, co-struendo, attraverso un’estrema libertà di associazioni, immagini che non vogliono esprimere concetti, ma che sono, esse stesse, concetti. Ogni colore, richiamando alla mente situazioni o oggetti, mostra i rapporti profondi che legano le cose.La “i” rossa (porpora) viene associata a suggestioni dense di vita-lità aggressiva come il sangue e le belle labbra, che alludono alla violenza delle passioni che provocano l’ebrezza dei sensi.L’accostamento delle parole produce così una condizione emotiva e richiama alla mente, attraverso le immagini, concetti in grado d’indagare la realtà, creando intuizioni e stimoli sensoriali. Estra-nea al discorso logico, l’opera d’arte ci permette una conoscenza della realtà profonda e ricca di possibilità con il suo avanzare per salti, fratture e biforcazioni, per illuminazioni e abbagli.Tarik Berber negli olî del ciclo Toxic cadmium utilizza il pigmento rosso tendente al porpora derivato dal cadmio, come elemento d’indagine delle pieghe dell’essere, in cui immanenza e trascen-denza convivono, come estensioni letterali del pensiero.Il rosso di cadmio è un colore squillante e molto coprente che pos-siede, come tutti i pigmenti derivati da questo elemento chimico, un livello di tossicità che in alcuni paesi ha fatto sì che venisse vie-tato nella produzione di giocattoli per bambini. Ma la vera “tossici-tà” messa in luce da Berber sta nell’oscurità che il rosso possiede, mentalmente più profonda del nero: qualcosa che appartiene alla nostra oscurità interiore, molto più buia e impenetrabile di qualun-que altra oscurità.Le figure (mai intere) sulle tele si toccano, si sfiorano, eppure igno-rano la presenza l’uno dell’altro in una solitudine solipsistica fatta di gesti moltiplicati e frammentati, ripetuti ed iconizzati.La figurazione si staglia su elementi di sfondo che non vogliono

descrivere un ambiente, ma hanno solo un valore cromatico e spaziale, qualcosa di ruvido e urlante da cui affiorano ombre di un genere umano incerto, al tempo stesso risoluto ma traballante.Il rosso da sfondo si fa veste del corpo, fino ad arrivare a conqui-stare la figura stessa dell’uomo: l’oggetto freudiano cupo, interno e aleatorio, è “umheimlich” (perturbante) e mette in evidenza la fra-gilità dell’umanità, per dire che nella vita non c’è niente di comune.Pochi altri colori sono presenti nella tavolozza: il vortice palpitante dei chiari e degli scuri delle terre, dati spesso per contrasto bruta-le, invadono campiture a tratti lasciate piatte e quasi grezze, a tratti portatrici di un’identità precisa e disegnata in modo tale da richia-mare la materia densa dell’affresco. Quasi un’impronta digitale del pennello e della materia che si mostra a noi.La pelle ruvida dell’opera viene incisa dalla tensione costante del ductus grafico che richiama le persistenze, i recuperi e le sugge-stioni di cui vive l’arte di Berber e che parla della sua storia: dalla natìa Bosnia della cultura austro-ungarica, da cui eredita i marcati slanci ascensionali delle linee, attraverso l’Italia, Firenze e la tradi-zione del disegno quattrocentesco, fino ad un eclettismo dischiu-so alle varie culture estetiche dell’oggi, ma lontano dalla “trovata”, che è il grande equivoco dell’arte contemporanea.Tutto questo mette in luce un tempo -della pittura e degli anacro-nismi dell’arte- che è fatto a sua volta di pezzi di tempo ogni volta assoluto, puro e slegato. Ciò che lo attraversa e connette la realtà esterna a quella interna è la condizione astratta e mentale della superficie-pelle dell’opera.Per questo il colore non è mai solo superficie, ma condizione.

Alessandra Frosini

“I, porpore, sangue sputato, risata di belle labbra Nella collera e nelle ubriachezze penitenti”1

1 A. Rimbaud, Voyelles, prima pubblicazione su “Lutèce”, 5 ottobre 1883. Ed. consultata: in A. Rimbaud, Tutte le poesie, Roma 2007.

In 1871, when he was 17 years old, the poet Arthur Rimbaud wrote the sonnet Vowels (Voyelles), in which he linked the sounds of the vowels to some colors, creating, through an extreme free-dom of associations, images that don’t want to express concepts, but that are, themselves, concepts. Each color, reminding to us situations or objects, shows the deep relationships among the things.The red “i” (purple) is connected to suggestions, dense with ag-gressive vitality, like blood or beautiful lips, that allude to the vio-lence of the passions that causes the inebriation of the senses.The juxtaposition of the words produces, in this way, an emotional condition and recalls to our mind, through the images, concepts able to examine the reality, creating intuitions and sensorial stir-rings. Unrelated with the logical subject, the artwork allows us to access the knowledge of the deep and rich reality full of possibil-ities with its advancements, jumps, divides, forks, enlightments and blunders.In his oil paintings series “Toxic Cadmium”, Tarik Berber uses that red pigment, derived from “cadmium”, that tends to purple. This color is like an element of research for the tendencies of human beings, in which immanence and transcendence live together, like literal extensions of the mind.The cadmium red is a vivid and pigmented colour, that owns, like all the pigments derived from this chemical element, a level of tox-icity that causes some countries to forbid its use in the production of several toys for children. However, the real “toxicity” enlightened by Berber is based on the darkness which red owns, mentally deeper than the black: something that belongs to our inner dark-ness, much deeper and impenetrable than any other darkness.Figures (never entire) touch each other on the canvas, they brush against each other, but they ignore each others presence in a sol-ipsistic loneliness, made of increased and fragmented gestures

repeated and iconized.The representation of the figure stands out against the background elements that don’t want to describe a specific environment, but have just a chromatic and spatial value, something rough and screaming, from which comes shadows of an uncertain human race that is at the same time resolute but unstable.From the background, the red becomes clothing, about to con-quer the human figure: the body is a Freudian object, entire and aleatory, is “umheimlich” (perturbing) and shows the fragility of hu-manity, to say that in life, nothing is common.There are few other colors in the palette: the palpitate vortex of brights and darks of the browns, often used for the brutal con-trast, invade the field of painting, sometimes left almost unrefined and sometimes bearers of a precise identity and drawn in order to recall the dense matter of the frescoes. It’s almost a digital print of the paint brush and of the substance, that shows itself to us. The rough skin of the artwork is carved by the constant tension of the graphic “ductus”, that recalls the persistences, rescues and suggestions of which Berber’s art lives and tells about his history. From the native Bosnia, where he inherits the marked ascensional impulses of the lines, through Florence, Italy where he studied the tradition of the XV century drawing, to an eclecticism opened to the different aesthetic cultures of today, but far from the “good idea”, that is the main misunderstanding of contemporary art.All this enlightens a time – of painting and anachronisms of art- that is made itself by pieces of time, every time (always) absolut, pure and untied. The thing that crosses and connects the external reality to the inner one is the abstract and mental condition of the surface/skin of the artwork - For this reason the color is never just surface, but condition.

Alessandra Frosini

“I, purples, spat blood, smile of beautiful lips In anger or in the raptures of penitence;”1

1 A. Rimbaud, Voyelles, prima pubblicazione su “Lutèce”, 5 ottobre 1883. Ed. consultata: in A. Rimbaud, Tutte le poesie, Roma 2007.

Tarik Berber Biografy

Born in Banja Luka (Bosnia) in 1980. Studied at Accademia di Belle Arti with prof. Adriano Bimbi, Florence. Lives and works in London.

Due to the Yugoslavian War, as a child he left his own country and settled with his family in Bolzano, Italy. Even before moving to Florence to continue his academic studies, while still very young, he had already received recognition and exemplary acknowledgements of esteem. Before the age of twenty-one he had, thanks to Giancarlo Marini an “old fashioned” art collector, public shows in Empoli and Mugello, before coming into contact with the prestigious Poggiali & Forconi Gal-lery in Florence. At the inauguration of the new Museo di Arte Contemporanea of Isernia, MACI, in the spring of 2004, the youngest artist invited to display, he presented a painting of expressionist stamp, showing in close up a figure perme-ated by a sacred aura, which galvanised the attention of both critics and public. The most important Fairs then consolidated an exceptional interest in his work.He was invited to exhibit at the Museo della Civiltà Romana in Rome, at the Second Biennial InTranSito, in Sassoferrato at the 55th Rassegna Internazionale d’Arte G. B. Salvi Aperture, curated by Mauro Corradini, and then, by Alessandro Riva in Catania in the Le Ciminiere space, and at the 2nd Rassegna Internaziona-le d’Arte Citta di Bozzolo Don Primo Mazzolari, where he won the first acquisition prize. In May 2006, he had a one-man show at the eighteenth-century residence of Villa Pisani, the Museo Nazionale of Strà in the Province of Venice.Berber had 4 solo shows and 6 group exhibitions of his work in London since he first moved in 2013. He also completed two hand-drawn animations which gained the attention of BBC, InsideArt and Vimeo Staff Picks among others.In summer 2015 he was invited to Bosnia and Hercegovina by N.Delić and A.Du-panović for a series of solo exhibition at the City Gallery Bihać, National Gallery of Bosnia and Hercegovina in Sarajevo and G&M Gallery in Tuzla.At the end of 2015 starts to work with the prestigious Albemarle Gallery, that organise a solo show at the Moor House, build by the archistar Lord Norman Foster, in the City, London.At the beginning of 2016 he pubblished with Admir Lješčanin “Fairy tale about the Moon” for the “DUGA CENTER”, Kulen Vakuf. A humanitarian project that provide shelter for children in BosniaAndHercegovina.Tarik is one of the Shortlisted Finalist at the Ibero-American ART AWARD Exhibi-tion at the Embassy of Brasil, London 2016.Beginning of 2017 he is invited by Serre Torrigiani in Piazza dei Tre Re and the Arch.Chiara Fanigliulo to create an 80m2 instalation for the “Estate Fiorentina”, Florence.In summer 2017 he’s back to Florence for a Solo Show, TOXIC CADMIUM, at the Aria Art Gallery, curated by Antonio Budetta.

“Orange Red Orange” by Mark Rothko (1961-2)

Solo Shows:

- Solo Show at the Aria Art Gallery, TOXIC CADMIUM, curated by Anto-nio Budetta, Firenze 2017- Solo Show at the Embassy of Bosnia And Hercegovian, London 2016- Solo Show at ArtMoorHouse in association with Albemarle Gallery, curated by Tony Pontone and Elisa Martinelli, London 2015- Solo Show ”FLOW” Darren Baker Gallery, Curated by Jason Col-chin-Carter & Agnieszka Perche, London 2015- Solo Show ”FLOW” City Gallery Bihać ,Curated by: Nermin Delić & Adnan Dupanović 2015- Solo Show ”FLOW” G&M Galeria, Tuzla 2015- Solo Show ”FLOW” National Art Gallery of Bosna and Hercegovina, Sarajevo 2015- Solo Show curated by Lejla Festic Britovsek-ArmaMaxa VETRINSKI DVORI, Slovenia MARIBOR, January 2015- Solo Show “Heterotopias of Time” curated by Gabriella Daris at “Blacks”, SOHO, London 2013 - Solo Show “Anatomia di un lupo”, Aria Art Gallery, Florence 2011- Double Solo Show with Elena Manzan “Back to Italy” (curated by Luca Beatrice), MACI, Isernia 2010- Solo Show “IMAGO” at LATO studio Architect Designer, Prato 2010- Solo Show “Mostra di disegni”, Etrarte, Florence 2010- Double Solo Show with sculptor Lorenzo Vignoli, Ex Marmi, Pietrasan-ta 2009- Solo Show “Firenze 2006, Berlin 2007”, SelvArtGallery, Bolzano 2007- Solo Show “Gli occhi della gente” (curated by Maurizio Sciaccaluga), Il Castello Art Gallery, Trento 2006- Solo Show “Vestigia Umane” (curated by Maria Livia Brunelli), Museo Nazionale Villa Pisani, Stra 2006- Solo Show “Teste e/o mitologemi”, Circolo Arti Figurative, Empoli 2004

Groupe Shows:

- Winter Show part.1/Winter Show part.2, Albemarle Gallery, London 2017- Tedx Talk “Synergy”, group show curated by Blair Zaye, ADA National College for Digital Skills, Tottenham, London 2017- Shortlisted Finalist at the Ibero-American ART AWARD Exhibition at the Embassy of Brasil, Lodndon 2016- Mersad Berber & Tarik Berber at the Albemarle Gallery, Mayfair, Lon-don 2016- NewYear/NewArtist/NewWork with Gordon Davidson/Tim Jones/Ar-shak Sarkissian at Albemarle Gallery, Mayfair, London 2016- February Group Show Darren Baker Gallery, curated by Jason Colchin Carter and Agnieszka Perche, IPA Isis Phonix Arts, LONDON 2015- Group Show at “100 Years Gallery” curated by Pascal Ancel Bartholdi and Jaimi Valtierra, London 2013- Group Show “Bosnian Culture ” Museo della Civiltà Romana , EUR, Roma 2012- Double Solo Show with Elena Manzan “Back to Italy” (curated by Luca Beatrice), MACI, Isernia 2010- Group Show “Oltrarno” (curated by Graziella Ardia), Palazzo Panciat-ichi, Florence 2010- Group Show “Beauty Farm, la bellezza del corpo tra idealizzazione e ossessione”, Fondazione Durini, Milano 2010- Double Solo Show with sculptor Lorenzo Vignoli, Ex Marmi, Pietrasan-ta 2009- International Art Review “G. B. Salvi”, Sassoferrato 2005- International Art Review Citta’ di Bozzolo (curated by Mauro Corradini), First Floor section, first prize awarded, 2005- Group Show “Altre Voci altre stanze” (curated by Alessandro Riva), spazio Le Ciminiere, Catania 2005- Biennale d’Arte Contemporanea Intransito, Museo Nazionale Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome 2004- Group Show “L’arte in testa” (curated by Luca Beatrice), MACI, Isernia 2004- Group Show “Il Mugello dipinto”, Barberino di Mugello 2003- Group Show “Il Mugello disegnato”, Palazzo Panciatichi, Florence 2002

Toxic Cadmium 12016Oil on canvas65 x 75 cm






BeBop Diary 242016Oil on wood board37 x 31.7 cm

BeBop Diary 232016Oil on wood board23.7 x 30 cm



Toxic Cadmium 132016Oil on canvas50 x 50.8 cm



Toxic Cadmium 142016Oil on canvas45.5 x 40.5 cm



BeBop Diary 222016Oil on wood board39.3 x 35.5 cm




BeBop Diary 22016Oil on wood board52 x 54 cm


BeBop Diary 12016Oil on canvas55 x 60 cm


BeBop Dancing Widows2016Oil on canvas140 x 240 cm

BeBop Lady 22016Oil on canvas120 x 140 cm




BeBop Diary 62016Oil on wood board34 x 43.4 cm




BeBop Diary 102016Oil on wood board37.6 x 41 cm

Mystique 12013Oil on canvas140 x 240 cm





Borgo SS Apostoli, 40/r - Florence (ITA)Tel: +39 055 216150 E-mail: [email protected]

In collaboration with:Sponsored by: Media Partner:

CURATED BY:Antonio Budetta

TEXT BY:Alessandra Frosini

PHOTO BY:Paintings:Yannick LalardyGualtiero Fisauli Portrait of the artist in the studio:Claudia Agati

GRAPHIC DESIGNER:Antonio Budetta

PRINTED BY: Grafiche MDM

Copyright:2017, Aria Art Gallery

ARIA RTGALLERY

A

ARIA RTGALLERY

A

LONDONFLORENCE

prolearningcentre.com · in 1871, when he was 17 years old, the poet arthur rimbaud wrote the...

Documents