Textures of senses
written by Luisa Califano
Translation by Giovanna Andolina





In the era of the globalization, influenced by the constant flow of the information, the creativeness appropriates itself of new tools. It crosses unexplored itineraries and inaugurates new and fluid representative spaces; in this way it picks up the difficult challenge of creating new artistic languages able to "make visible a reality “which ,today, seems to propose a different perception of the relationships between space and time .
The interesting creations of Vincenzo Montella move into this experimental context .
Through a thin play of forms, they build a metaphoric transformation of the dimension of the still present, which belongs to the era of globalization, till it becomes a mythical co presence of elements of time and space.
In this way we have a scenery that, lost every static nature , allows to its elements to fluctuate/swing in a dimension of the here and the now that is never here and it is never now .
That’s the creative play that well represents and elaborates again the big illusion of the contemporary times , in a completely personal vision .
Reality and imagination dance in a magic tridimensional atmosphere, on a surface only apparently in two-dimensions.
Distant fragments of the memory go alongside with productions of fantasy on a landscape of remote worlds.
In a strange play of lights, nearly physical elements of an archaic memory coexist with a shiny reality of the present, in a coexistence that succeeds in cancelling each possible return to a relationship of temporal succession.
The images of the past come out from translucent jewel-cases, precious containers of memories, barely hidden in the bright light of the present, which radiates them everywhere ,since it has
lost every possibility of concealing them .
It doesn’t matter if they were ever tied up by painful breakes: now it is no longer important, since new and alive is the contextual relationship; new and alive is the play that they create around
themselves, in that particular way of being there, on that short perceptive part of a city, in the being there , layed and mixed with the feelings of the present, greeted and dragged by a vivid
creativeness.
In this atmosphere ,the expressive codes of the author and of the spectator spread out in a creative meeting; they weave grids of sense through a myriad of metaphoric and metonymic combinations which constantly follow, balance and empower each other.

Observing the work of Vincenzo Montella means to be transported through this myriad of meanings ,giving up the illusion of sharing with the author, once and for all, something sensible. (che ha un senso),as it is right to happen in front of a work of art.

Luisa Califano: Reticolati di senso

La creatività nell’era della globalizzazione, trascinata dal flusso costante delle informazioni, si appropria di nuovi strumenti e percorre inesplorati itinerari, inaugurando nuovi e fluidi spazi rappresentativi; essa raccoglie, così, la difficile sfida di creare nuovi linguaggi artistici in grado di “far vedere una realtà” che oggi sembra voler proporre una diversa percezione dei rapporti spazio temporali.
Le interessanti creazioni di Vincenzo Montella si muovono in questo contesto sperimentale e costruiscono, attraverso un sottile gioco di forme, una metaforica trasformazione della dimensione del sempre presente, propria dell’era della globalizzazione, fino a farla divenire una mitica compresenza di elementi spazio temporali.
Nasce così uno scenario, che persa ogni staticità, consente agli elementi costituenti di fluttuare in una dimensione del qui ed ora che non è mai qui e non è mai ora, gioco creativo che ben rappresenta e rielabora, in una visione del tutto personale, la grande illusione dell’era contemporanea.. Su di una superficie, solo apparentemente bidimensionale, danzano, in un‘atmosfera magicamente tridimensionale realtà e fantasia, accostando su scenari di mondi lontani frammenti della memoria e produzioni fantasistiche. In uno strano gioco di luci, elementi di una memoria arcaica, quasi corporea, coesistono con una lucida realtà del presente, in una coesistenza che riesce ad annullare ogni possibile rimando ad un rapporto di successione temporale. Le immagini del passato escono da traslucidi scrigni, preziosi contenitori di ricordi, a mala a pena nascosti nella vivida luce del presente, che persa ogni possibilità di celarli li irradia ovunque. Se mai essi furono legati a dolorose fratture, non ha più importanza ormai, poiché nuovo e vivo è il rapporto contestuale, nuovo e vivo è il gioco fantasmatico che creano intorno a loro in quel particolare modo di essere lì sugli scorci percettivi di una città, nell’essere lì sovrapposti e frammisti alle sensazioni del presente, accolti e trainati da una vivida capacità creativa.
In questa atmosfera si dispiegano, in un incontro creativo i codici espressivi dell’autore e dello spettatore, tessendo reticolati di senso attraverso una miriade di accostamenti metaforici e metonimici che continuamente si susseguono, bilanciandosi e potenziandosi.
Fruire della visione delle opere di Vincenzo Montella significa proprio lasciarsi trasportare attraverso questa miriade di significati rinunciando, come è giusto che sia di fronte ad un lavoro artistico, all’illusione di condividere con l’autore, una volta e per sempre, un senso compiuto.

Simone Cappa, NY Arts vol 12 n.3-4
review about “The Joker” ,10/16th-31st/ 2006, Broadway Gallery, 473 Broadway 7th Fl.,New York,
………
Artist and poet Vincenzo Montella displays computer generated images that feature the idea of a joker who plays pranks and causes mayhem. Using the pulcinella, a fantastic character from Italian folklore (specifically Naples), Montella is able to tie in the concept of “Joker” to its ancient roots. The pulcinella has been used in theatre since roman times and it is still used in puppetry. The pulcinella is known to be mean and crafty, pretending to be too stupid to understand his actions yet ready to act aggressively and do harm. Instead of legs, Montella’s pulcinella have horns and must fly. With a wicked spin, Montella places these characters in the present day world, flying before skrapers and such, haunting us with a maniacal nightmare that won’t fade.
...............
Les représentations qui émergent de la tension entre l'espace et le temps sont au cœur du travail de Montella. Utilisant des outils numériques le photographe définit un champ original pour ses expérimentation artistiques. Les espace deviennent des entités autonomes où passé et présent coexistent, au delà de la linéarité du temps.

- La mondialisation

- Le progrès technique

- Le langage

- La perception du passé

Les photographies de Montella cristallisent la convergence de ces phénomènes de ces processus. Il en identifie les différentes phases qui se recoupent et se recoupent, afin de créer des agencements visuel singuliers. Les symboles e les repères traditionnels s'inscrivent dans un rapport contextuel nouveau. Une nouvelle mythologie émerge.

- The representation resulting from the tension between space and time are essential in Montella's work. Using digital tools, the photographer defines an original field for his artistic experimentations. Spaces become autonomous entities, within which past and present coexist beyond the linearity of time.
- Globalization
- Technical progress
- Language
- The perception of past
Montella's pictures crystallize the convergence of these phenomena, of these processes. The interactions between the different phases are identified in order to create singular visual arrangements. Symbols and tradicional references enter in new contextual relationship. A new mythology emerges.
Charles-Henri Bescond

La obra fotográfica de Vincenzo Montella es sumamente compleja. Su fotografía es arte, documento y noticia. Nos damos cuenta de manera gráfica y plástica de nuestro pasado de nuestra actividad pasada, proyectando también una memoria onírica de nuestro futuro. Junta pasado y presente bajo un tinte de plata que lo envuelve en la bruma de lo ignoto.

Una de las virtudes de su fotografía es la permanencia. Montella toma de su archivo-memoria-visual sus fotos con un dejo de nostalgia, con un poco de pesadumbre por el pasado y con ironía por el futuro. Trae la memoria a colación a convocar la verdad. Su claroscuro gravita entre la grandeza y la abyección, a través de él logra que tenga presencia e interpretación su creación artística. La luz interior de su obra no es regulada por el diafragma de su cámara sino por su imaginación y creatividad. Su fotografía no es solo imagen sino más bien la expresión plástica visual de su mundo.

Su fotografía no es una operación instantánea en una fracción de segundo sino más bien una significación de acontecimientos. Trabaja contra el tiempo, sus acontecimientos permanecen continuamente. Aquello que vemos en su fotografía aconteció en el pasado y continúa aconteciendo en el pasado pero gracias a su imagen la “presentariza”. Sus fotografías en su foco de atención no muestran vida, muestran lo inerme de esculturas piedras, de imágenes de sueños que se han detenido en su duración, que no tienen fin, que se han liberado de su fatum o destino. Ha detenido lo detenido, un tiempo embalsamado, quieto, que no logra evitar la fuga. Si ese es el foco, en el entorno de su fotografía, en lo presente, lo cotidiano es el situar los personajes anacrónicos en un referencial dentro de una duración moderna. Es unir lo antiguo, lo estático, lo arruinado en el contexto ajeno del presente. Es querer revivir en pasado el presente. Es no querer activar la reliquia del pasado glorioso, es no portar el talismán, el amuleto o la medalla milagrosa en aras de un presente nuevo.

Orlando Campos R.


Fly
REVIEWED
Niles Masters

Vincenzo Montella is an Italian artist whose work was view in an exhibition entitled Fly at Broadway Gallery NYC.
Neapolitan photographer and digital artist Vincenzo Montella’s unique brand of Social Realism was recently on display at the Broadway Gallery NYC. Created through a process of photography later manipulated through digital processes, Montella’s unique pop images employ the medium of photography not only as a way to discover his hometown of Naples, but also as a way to instill a sense of fantasy into it. His work demonstrates a dynamism, speed, energy, and power —not to mention vitality, all within a static 2-dimentional surface.

The series on view in Fly depicts the Commedia dell’Arte figure, Pulcinella, a classic character from the 17th century theatrical form. This clown-like figure, also a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry, is recognizable by his white clown suit, coned-shaped hat, and black mask. Representing life and death, the character also symbolizes craftiness and deceit. Here Montella superimposes the figure, almost flying out towards the viewer, over backdrops that alternate from the surreal—such as the gargantuan Swans in Swans, 2005—to the real—such as the cityscapes of modern day Naples in works such as Pulcinella in the City, 2005. He captures these images in the many promenades he takes around the city.

Of particular appeal is Pulcinella and Time, 2004. A field of blue sky dotted with luxuriant cumulous clouds is contrasted with a superimposed Pulcinella figure, arms thrown up in the air as if he is about to jump out at the viewer. The face of a clock hovers nearby. Below the figure are a series of colored zigzag bands upon which small silhouette figures balance, their arms mimicking Pulcinella’s gesture. Two black crows flying in the air complete the image. Rich in symbolic significance, this image channels a Surrealist vocabulary in the execution of a Pop aesthetic that speaks to the fear of mortality common to all people.

Similarly, Race, 2005, exploits some very savvy compositional devices to render an image that is quite dynamic and powerful. Here we see a typical Neapolitan apartment building bordered by a large billboard. The billboard displays an advertisement depicting a nude flying figure reminiscent of the Roman deity Mercury. Almost in competition with this messenger god, is Pulcinella whose pose imitates ...