Vincenzo Piazza was born in Catania the 30th of March 1959.
He studied Architecture in Palermo where he got the degree in
1983. The beginning of his artistic activity is marked by the
interest for the etching techniques that he started practising
in 1985 during the period he spent in Nettuno (Rome). His beginning
is characterised by the graphic representation of archaeological
finds, vegetable elements and architectural structures that
enquires into the relationship nature / artifice through small
deviation of sense.
His first exhibition was organised in 1987 by Tasso Gallery
in Bergamo. In 1987 and 1988 he attended the courses on copperplate
engraving and lithography at Accademia "Raffaello" in Urbino.
He prefers the etching techniques and since 1995 his production
includes also ex libris.
He at present lives in Palermo, he exhibits regularly, his works
are in public collections (Raccolta di stampe "A. Bertarelli"
in Milan; Pinacoteca Comunale in Forlì, Muzeum Zamkowe Malbork;
Ostrow Wielkopolski Museum) and he is present in the main publications
about engraving.
Critical essay of Egisto Bragaglia, published on Encyclopaedia
bio-bibliographcal of the art of the contemporary ex libris,
vol 22, Ed. Da Mota Miranda, Portugal. Reproduced by courtesy
of the author.
"The aim of Art - says Oscar Wilde - is to reveal the work and
hide the artist".
The refined English writer, prince of paradox, denies himself
with this sentence. If, in the literature world, there has been
someone that has used art to show and not to hide himself, that,
without using falsified attitudes, made a work of art of his
life and of Art a choice of life, this is Oscar Wilde.
Likewise, about fine arts, it is clear that, at least when they
are not imitations, they find their origin in something personal,
that makes each of us an unique and unrepeatable individual,
and they often have the function of a redeeming act, sometimes
unconscious, of mood and emotions. From these considerations
comes the conviction that to go deep into the meaning of a work
the best way is to meet the artist and to understand his personality.
Recently I had the chance to examine some ex-libris by Vincenzo
Piazza, an artist I had heard about during a graphics exhibition.
In his etchings what pleasantly impressed me
was the balance of the composition and the clear and quite space
in which the artist places the meaningful elements that are
often dynamically invested by light and wind.
In those small sheets I got a message that deserved to be interpreted.
I did not hesitate to try and meet the artist to get the explanation
I thought was necessary directly from him. From my city, Bolzano,
the most northern capital of province in Italy and Palermo,
where Vincenzo Piazza lives, there are about 1600 km, but the
distance is not an obstacle if the destination is a city which
is rich of history, culture and art.
Palermo is the capital of Sicily, the blooming isle
in the heart of Mediterranean sea, that has got the unique privilege
to have been part of several events that, from prehistory till
nowadays, have scanned the process of History. From Palaeolithic
to Greece, from Carthaginians to Romans, from Vandals to Goths,
from Byzantine to Arabs, from Norman to Suevians, from Angevins
to Aragonese, from Austrians to Bourbons, the civilisations
that alternated each other in Sicily have left very important
vestiges.
In Palermo, a city lying between the sea and fragrant oranges
gardens, lives and works Vincenzo Piazza. The flat in Via Leonardo
da Vinci, where he lives with his family, is in a residential
quarter recently built at the border of the city.
His studio in via Serradifalco, 44 is in an old quarter, between
big buildings and old houses. This is the "habitat" I am interested
in. The space that the artist has chosen and
furnished and that therefore has the sign of his personality.
The apartment has got four rooms at the ground floor. In the
entrance room a coach and two armchair are symbol of welcome.
From here you get to the "creative" room. There is a table for
each phase of the activity. The first one is to read, write
and jot down some ideas, the second one is a big drawing table,
the third one is for the etching. In the following room there
are tables and what is necessary for biting of plates. In the
adjacent room there are the press and the instruments for the
printing, because Piazza is faithful to the ancient tradition
which wants that the artist has to realize all the operations
for the printing by himself without delegating to professional
printers the efforts of printing, which is probably a boring
and repetitive job, but that still remains necessary, to check
sheet by sheet, the perfection of the result.
In the past it was established that the graphics to be considered
original, had to be personally printed by the artist. This rule
is now put in discussion and many artists, because they do not
have the press or the space, dodge this commitment.
Looking around, I linger on the shelves full of books,
on the artist's etchings hung on the walls, on the functional
disposition of objects. In the different rooms I remain just
the time to examine the things and their disposition.
I exchange just few comments with Piazza who, up to now has
told to me just few words. Now he invites me to go outside in
a small garden, a green oasis dotted with colourful
flowers, that he defines: "my green room". Here we sit down
on a bench and this unexpected rest makes us smile. Our conversation
starts with my questions to get closer to him, and with his
short, calm and clear answers. Not a word more than is necessary.
Not even a trace of the aggressiveness that I often find in
similar circumstances. My interlocutor of average height, introverted
and laconic, controls with calm his shyness. He just moves his
brown eyes. He still looks like a young man: only few silver
hair colours his temple to show he is about to be forty.
Piazza is not a very sociable man. He loves loneliness, as a
matter of fact he says without any regret to be almost unknown
in Palermo. His love for Art is neither passionate
or overwhelming as I (being a man from the north) expect from
a Mediterranean man; but Piazza is a real Sicilian. His family
has lived in this isle for generations; a land rich of fragrance
and charm and for several aspects contradictory. He was bom
in Catania, a city near Etna, the volcano that during the centuries
destroyed the city several times. The inhabitants, for the sake
of their land and sea, have always reconstructed it bigger and
richer of monuments than before.
When he was at school his teacher initiated him to paint in
oil. He liked his attempts, with bright colours
and of pleasant instinct, but they did not excited him, so he
left paintbrushes and colours.
While he was at the faculty of architecture, in 1977, he used
to draw outside the university studies. He felt the desire to
fix on the paper images and impressions, but he was not satisfied
by the results. He used to shake his head and throw the sheets
away without any hesitation.
After some years, in 1984, he got convinced that his drawings
were getting better and that they deserved to be improved with
a more assiduous and intense care.
"The present results - says Piazza - are just the fruit
of a practice pursued with persistence".
In 1985 when he was in the Army in Nettuno, near Rome, he used
to spend the time drawing his architectural fantasies. That
sheets shown to some local artists, were the occasion for meetings
during which he got the chance to know and try the techniques
of etching. "It has been a thunderbolt" he says satisfied and
adds "it could be said: a thunderbolt on the way to Nettuno".
Consequently the new artistic interests prevailed
on architecture that, however continued to be the fundamental
subject of his compositions.
In 1986, while he was a teacher in a village between Bergamo
and Milan, being close to these two cities he had the chance
to go to galleries and exhibitions almost every day. This stimulated
thoughts and intuitions that he translated into drawings with
Indian ink. In Bergamo he used to find encouragement and welcome.
Tasso Gallery used to exhibit his works with Indian ink together
with some etchings he had made during the military service.
He understood that he had to cope and solve doubts and uncertainties
about the complex phases that transform the engraved sign in
a work of art. He answered to this necessity in 1987 when he
attended the course on chalcography at the "Accademia Raffaello"
in Urbino the city where he bought his press.
The experience he made in Urbino opened him fascinating
perspectives. All the procedures of printing, enchanted
him. In 1988 he came back to Urbino to attend the course of
lithography held by Carlo Ceci, who, above all in landscape,
could give life to images quivering with lyricism in elegant
compositions. The choice of his life was made. Every day, industriously,
he followed his path, counting only on his strength, without
looking for external helps.
In 1989 he met Furio Romualdi who, from Florence (where he runs
the Inclub), sustains the diffusion of engraving
in Italy, encouraging the young artists and sustaining the ones
who are already known. Piazza is grateful to this sensitive
art promoter, because he trusted him from the beginning, opening
him the route for the professional activity and for the attention
he still dedicates to his works. After having tried the different
fundamental techniques of engraving, he confirms his fondness
for etching which becomes his only expressive form. Among the
great Maestri he loved Piranesi, the Venetian architect that,
with the "carceri d'invenzione" and the archaeological
views of Rome conquered universal reputation. Now he
prefers the works by Giuseppe Viviani (1898-1965) that enchants
him for the imaginative ardour and for the absolute values of
his language. He personally follows, in the daily practice,
with attention each phase of the procedure. He can obtain the
effects he wants in the biting, often starting from the beginning,
because etching does not allow corrections. After the realisation
of the drawing, it is just in the first executive phase, the
one that consists in uncovering the metal, drawing with the
etching needle the sign on the paint, that he feels the joy
of creation. Etching gives him a feeling of strength and happiness
and also the impression etching has a therapeutic effect on
his body. At the end, when he slowly raises the sheet from the
matrix, he feels the tension going down and stops for a while
to observe. It is right now that the critical moment arrives,
the doubt, that slight dissatisfaction which is probably part
of the job, because he goes back with his mind to all the phases
through which the work went through. It is not disappointment,
it is not anguish, it is not torment. It is a mental process
that records the results of experience, the ones that pile up
trying and trying, to get, day by day, a bit of experience more.
The elements that populate his creative imaginary are visible
in his engravings. The scenario are preferably dominated by
dark skies where pound hundreds of stars. Open
spaces, arboreal and architectonic images prevail.
Dazzling light and whirling winds sometimes burst into the scene,
deforming the perspectives. They are signs of a slight pessimism
corrected by hopes, ideals and yearning for revolt.
Other symbols, some of them emerging from the
darkness of unconscious, remember the mystery of infinity, the
silence of mind, the anguish of existence, the toil of living,
the aesthetic value as moral reality. It lacks, desperately
lacks, the human presence. The artist is alone, maybe for shyness,
maybe for misanthropy. He also escapes from himself and always
remains outside his scenarios. He observes them, but it is clear
he does not want to be there. This makes his works silently
melancholy and gives them a touch of light poetry.
I am really afraid he will not like these thoughts. I have noticed
he is not very interested in the theoretical speculations his
works can be subjected to. This indifference can be shared when
dealing with tortuous critical reasoning, where the obscurity
is used to hide the poverty of the concepts and the absence
of founded arguments.
It is right to say that Art does not need explanation,
but if there must be a comment, it must be clear and not so
hermetic to be understood only by those in the know. On the
social plane there is the suspect that people keep away from
modem art also because of the dissuasive power of some critical
essays.
Going back to Wilde's paradox, quoted in the beginning, if Piazza
makes his works hoping to hide himself in them, I wish he could
continue in his commitment being sure that although he will
never use that annoying behaviour as protagonist that afflicts
some artists, his talent, already positively estimated, will
benefit from increasing acknowledgement.
Vincenzo Piazza discovered ex libris only
in 1995 and, loving books, he immediately understood his real
meaning. He thinks that, as Italians do not read many books
(as it is shown by statistics) their relaunching will be difficult.
He agrees with me when I point out that are especially the lack
of interest of the lower social classes that make the statistics
so bad; whereas there is a satisfying number of bibliophiles
with good libraries. This is confirmed by the several exhibitions
of old books and the existence of many companies that, with
success, satisfy the desires of several lover printing very
good catalogues. It is to these people that the ex-libris, status
symbol of a cultured and refined elite, is particularly addressed.
Unlike other artists, who are isolated in the ivory tower of
their inspiration, Piazza listens and accepts the suggestions
of his customers, to stimulate his creativeness and
get ideas, in the typical way of his formation as architect.
From the suggestions he draws his conclusions to which he remains
faithful being sure, as it has always happened up to now, that
the results will completely satisfy the owner of the ex-libris.
He considers this comparison, this dialogue on the subject,
as one of the most interesting aspects of the ex-libris activity
and, above all a precious chance to meet people and make friends.
As a matter of fact he remembers with satisfaction that every
assignment has made a friendly relationship and, when friendship
already existed it has favoured its consolidation.
The number of ex-libris realised by Piazza till now is not high
but the quality deserves consideration. One
of his ex-libris cannot lack in the collection of those lovers
that look for artists that can interpret their personality,
conju- gating the symbolic essence of the traditional sign of
possession with the stylistic liveliness typical of a present
day artist.
Translated by John Smith
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Mostre / Exibitions.
1996
Ex libris il fascino del tempo che passa,
Castello della Manta, Manta (CU), Italia.
1997
VII miedzynarodowe biennale malej formy graficznej ekslibrisu,
Ostrów Wielkopolski (Polonia/Poland).
Ex libris Pro Loco di Roccalbegna,
Palazzo comunale, Roccalbegna (GR), Italia.
Liuteria nel Mezzogiorno,
Palazzo Farnese, Ortona (CH), Italia.
1998
1ª Rassegna degli artisti A.I.E.,
Sala dell'Orologio, Roccalbegna (GR), Italia.
2. trienále Exlibris,
Galéria Mesta, Bratislava, (Slovacchia).
Concorso internazionale di ex libris,
Biblioteca Comunale, Zola Predosa (BO), Italia.
1999
Acqueforti 1990-1998,
Libreria Misuraca, Cefalù (PA), Italia.
Grafica ed Ex libris,
Complesso S. Bartolomeo, Casale Monferrato (AL), Italia.
VIII miedzynarodowe biennale malej formy graficznej ekslibrisu,
Ostrów Wielkopolski (Polonia/Poland).
Don Quijote en el mundo,
Istituto Cervantes, Amman, (Giordania/Jordan).
Ex libris 1997-1998,
Sala Colombo, Porto Valtravaglia (VA), Italia.
III International Exlibris Graphic Contest,
Miejska Biblioteca Publiczna, Gliwice, (Polonia/Poland).
Omaggio a Segantini,
Palazzo Carpani-Beauharnaus, Pusiano (CO), Italia.
2000
Giubileo 2000 - Il sacro,
Castello Visconti di San Vito, Somma Lombardo (VA), Italia.
Gli ex libris italiani contemporanei,
Palazzo Farnese, Ortona (CH), Italia.
To M. Beyle - Ex libris per il Centro Stendhaliano,
Palazzo Sormani, Milano, Italia.
M. K. Ciurlioniui - 125,
Lietuvos Nacionaline Martyno Mazvydo Biblioteka, Vilnius (Lituania).
Gli ex libris italiani contemporanei,
Warszawska Galeria Ekslibrisu, Varsavia (Polonia/Poland).
2001
Des ex-libris pour Stendhal,
Musée Stendhal, Grenoble (Francia/France).
Gli ex libris italiani contemporanei,
IX miedzynarodowe biennale malej formy graficznej i ekslibrisu, Ostrów Wielkopolski (Polonia/Poland).
Don Chisciotte nell'ex libris,
Oratorio de' Disciplinati, Finale Ligure;
e Nuova Biblioteca Comunale, Trento, Italia.
Ex libris Biblioteca Comunale,
Centro Giovani, Lomazzo (CO), Italia.
Ex libris della collezione AIE,
Biblioteca Civica, Bodio Lomnago (VA), Italia.
"Il segno inciso" incisori a confronto tra Italia e Repubblica Ceca,
Centro Attività Culturali "San Silvestro", Osimo (AN), Italia.
2002
Incisori exlibristi siciliani,
Palazzo Farnese, Ortona (CH), Italia.
Vincenzo Piazza
Via Leonardo da Vinci, 518
90135 Palermo, Italia
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Vincenzo Piazza è nato a Catania il 30 marzo 1959.
