THE PAINTING OF FRANCESCO POLENGHI Excerpt from: Painting between Motion and Stillness by Demetrio Paproni For Francesco Polenghi, painting is the result of a rational process that is nevertheless influenced by the unexpected nature of subjective instincts. Initially he repeats on a square white canvas, with one color only, a form consisting of a thin cylindrical shape. Juxtaposed to one another, these tapered cylinders become organized into motion conceived as a flow of energy. Determining the character of the first layer is a sort of psychic automatism that allows the artist to remove himself from the surrounding world. The next step is to give depth to the initial design by going over it several times with the color. The design thus assumes a timbric effect that tends to freeze the initial subjective impulse and give the whole a more objective dimension, since having to go back over the design several times makes the motion less free and fluid. The overlapping of the color also lets us make out the subtle margins of the layer below. It is not a question of bichromism, as might first appear, but of complex polychromes, built layer upon layer of color. The drying time of oil paintings requires Polenghi to work on several paintings at once. By comparing the different canvases, he then has an idea of the weight to give to the texture of signs and to the contrasts within the individual works. Similar but not identical, these paintings differ in the way the various flows of energy intertwine and in the contrasts that the density of color gives to the overall effect. Throughout the process, Polenghi ponders the limitations that the painting materials impose on the artist. Going over the initial design several times suggest a mantra, a spiritual formula that finds in the slow, never changing repetition of the motion the awareness that an objective is being concentrated on that can be approached and aspired to. Viewed in this light, the painting becomes an instrument of mind control, capable of offering unexpected openmindedness. The question is not where the pictorial practice will lead, nor what the artist is doing, but rather how the painting takes shape. The procedure makes it difficult of the artist to understand the limit that should not be exceeded to avoid compromising the formal delicate balance of the work. The saturation of color, therefore, coincides with the psychological saturation of the artist in relation to the individual painting. It is thus the psychological perception that shows the artist when to stop. In this sense, Polenghi’s work is an expression of a rational process that does not free him from the unpredictability of his subjective drives, as each decision is influenced by his mood. Once the first phase of work is finished, Polenghi stores the canvases, placing them on a shelf as if they were books that one can see only the back of. The aim is to forget them, to counteract the affection that all authors feel towards their works when they are considered concluded. It takes months, at times years, before resuming them, subjecting them to a new comparison with the other paintings he is working on. When Polenghi finally feels that the pictorial surface is close to it’s breaking point, or rather when he realizes that another layer of color could jeopardize the work, he prepares the final phase. At this point, the painting is trimmed along the edges, glued onto a carrying canvas, and then mounted on a frame, whose depth makes the work perceived as a geometric volume. Once again, however, the artist assesses the work before deciding whether to consider it finished, in other words before deciding whether or not to go over the design with a new coat of paint. On average, each painting involves four layers of color ......
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 22:16:59 +0000
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