I ironically I: Elio Marchegiani

This show with its title wants to put even more into evidence my “presumptuous” make to make think as well as my thought: Art is an exact science that was lucky enough not to be one, but it is above all a – very particular – homage to him whom for a long time I have been trying to understand: Mr. Albert Einstein. Thus I decided to dedicate my last make to his: “tongue out”.

After all, Art is only a language.

 

Starting from the observation of the artist at work, what prevails is his playful attitude: he is a homo ludens, a man who plays. However, he does not play a merely liberating game, as an end in itself, but rather a game characterized by a strong cognitive component, linked to an underlying vital philosophy expressed in the form of concrete and emotional thought. In ancient Rome, school was named ludus, i.e. play, in the same way as children’s games and circus performances; the master was called magister ludi. Evidently, ancient Romans had a conception of school associated to play, which means that they had sensed that play is a fundamental component in learning processes. Marchegiani plays with a whole world of things whose meanings he bends to the expressive goals intrinsic in his design, by having recourse to the whole spectrum relevant to the ludic: from the fanciful to the jocular, comic, humoristic, ironic and even sarcastic. When accessing the world of play, one enters an “intermediate world” characterized by a conscious illusion; that is why the relationship with objects implies a “temporary suspension of the customary world”. Among the most disparate classifications of play, different typologies are suited to match Marchegiani’s creations, mainly the one of symbolic play. In Marchegiani’s works the ludic element occurs more frequently in the form of transformation of objects, the viewer is so to say invited to “play” with the artwork itself. Jocosity is closely related to the sense of humour ad subtle irony that sit well on Marchegiani like a custom-tailored suit.

 

From Elio Marchegiani, homo ludens and magister ludi by Ingrid Schraffl