Paolo Levi - Gianfranco Paulli Sculptor

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Paolo Levi

IN THE WORLD > CRITIC

Exhibition

“ALLOW THE WORD TO MATERIA”

Text by Doctor Paolo Levi

(Art critic)

September 2008

MODULATED EXPRESSIVENESS

Examining the work in full relief of Gianfranco Paulli entitled "Il Tempo nell’Eternita’ (Time in Eternity)" your first impression is that of a gentle lull. But going further into the content value of the moulded material, you clearly perceive the existence of a central motive from which emanates the creativity of the energy, or better said, a completely internal source from which emanates the very idea of spiritual strength. The sculptor – who lives and works in Casalbuttano in the Cremona area - in all of his sculpted works, uses marble, bronze or clay, realizing no only a type of plastic structure which has a great spatial balance, but also uses an harmonious and smooth form that assimilates luminosity. The surface therefore exalts the work’s systematic nature: when, for example the apollineo bronze offers to the eye the Modella - a nude - the feminine body, which assumes pensive connotations, an almost abstract is made of his aspiration to pure linearity.

In the same way, in the Cristo, more than plasticity it is the white light of the Carrara marble that give body, transpiring even the essentiality of a poignant suffering. Gianfranco Paulli is an artist of serene religiosity when facing themes such as "L’estasi di Sant’Agostino (St. Augustine’s Ecstasy)", a complex work in his bronze colour variations, where the grooves receive temporary shadows.

In this as in other works, an expressivity which is modulates in the unit of the architectural structure prevails. In the marble works more than anything, and the "Dolce Risveglio (Gentle Awakening)" may be mention among all, the rough outline reveals a masterly lesson, which we believed to have been lost by now in the art of sculpture: in this work all’arte classica, his creativity certainly loses no warmth, rhythm or energy Gianfranco Paulli’s being a traditional sculptor, he gratifies the observer who loves the apollinea form and the cold but sensual tangibility of the marble and bronze. In statuary white Carrara marble, that same irradiating power that already belonging to Canova, rises to a kind of magnetic metaphysical aspect. Paulli also loves to make prevail, as is the case of the bronze sculpture dedicated to Antonio Stradivare, the symbolic values in typically secular key, where the narrative manner of the subject is spiritually connotated from the profound sense of a totally concrete and worldly mission. Here then, it is interesting to note the construction’s realistic outline, which sets before the eyes the nobility of an extraordinary presence. In "Il Bacio (The Kiss)" recurs a cultivated nostalgia toward classic symbolism: in the case the bodies in statuary Carrara marble envelop each other in a splendid swirl, in a sinuous game of concentrated forms very well defined in the space.

A sculptor who work inside an ideal space, where each structure defines a dynamic concept, Paulli imprints not only form to single elements of plastic construction – to be noted those very fine elements of "La Carezza (The Caress)" - but also colours, where geometry controls the precious dialogue between light and shadow. The quality of his works is found exactly in the reflection that presides over the skilful manipulation of the material in order to visually concrete spiritual themes. He constantly realizes his personal ideal, trying to find beauty in the relationship between form and space, between a visionary manner and a rigorously classic language: as a successful example of all of this is the work "Sogno sull’amaca (Dreaming on a Hammock)". Even when the artist gets away from symbolism, going to travel the mysterious territories of Greek and Roman Classicism, as is the case in "Omaggio (Homage)" all of his works, the movement in unison with the hand and with the chin renews the obedience to that antique knowledge, that, in the fertile channel of the Mediterranean, has given rule and substance to the mysteries of creativity.