Checkmate
by Maria Rita Bentini | R.A.M. Abecedario della storia sotto il tappeto

In a surprising move, Âniko Ferreira da Silva, Giuseppe Donnaloia and Pavlos Mavromatidis (in the name of CaCO₃, since 2006, the three artists have linked together the different individual paths with an absolute unity of purposes) compare with the theme and transform the distance into an advantage

The purity of their analytical research has been refined in these few years in the field of the form, and since the beginning the mosaic has appeared like an area of unlimited possibilities, pure space of projections and andamenti /trends conducted with milimetrical precision.

An approach that has produced new terms of measure and original compositional methods in the static universe of Ravenna: works
rigorously monochromatic, in which the formal tension of the element “tesserae” – a sequence of thin javelins wedged into the surface- transforms into magical event of light, of mater, of volumes.

With the result of a visual suspension that escapes from the boundaries of representation or avoids those of decoration, and opts instead for a simultaneous perceptual dimension, a total field crossed by flows of energy, in which depth, surface, color, brightness become in unison a Movement or a variation of it.
The invitation to confront with the hidden identity of Ravenna (a city in which only one of them was born, but that all three have chosen for artistic training), to get in search of a hidden occult fragment of its story and to express it with a new work , has introduced extraneous elements in the proven alcemy of CaCO₃ language.

Esesere Quadrato/Essere Rosso (Being Square / Being Red) is the result of this specific connection. A clear black square is detached from the shiny hardness of the right angle, the frame, while inside of it an hyperbolic and ductile arabesque of musaic andamenti-trends creates a wavy motion.

The swirling mass is agitated by the light – the tesserae arranged like a “wolf’s tooth” alternate polished surfaces to the opacity of the recto – but the stability, the weight, the firmness of the system “at quadratum” opposes to you.

Esotericism and Cabala lead to a distant image, the temple of Solomon, compass and square have built the perfect measure. Not far a small red three-dimensional body whose organic form does not have the rigor of geometry, ectoplasm full of energy who opposes (or maybe not) to the excess of the large square. The perfect seal of the formal mosaic language brings the tension between the two elements (geometry vs organicity), between the different materials (black marble vs. red glasspaste), between the different forces (centripetal vs centrifugal), to the tuning fork.

That the “city of silence” evoked by D’Annunzio has been and is till now a place of an
important Masonic lodge, probably isn’t it a hidden piece of a common history that wenmust make a question? That the same city itself is part of a territory where the force of socialism has established values of solidarity and participation, but in which the discoloration of the ideals has also brought experiences of the opposite sign, isn’t it another question mark?

The freedom of the look of CaCO₃ does not stop to evoke El Lisitskij (Beat the white with the Red Wedge, 1920).
With the strength of the language plumbs from the surface to the depth and reaches the center of the target. With clarity bares the powers that govern our lives
and seducing scratches.