Ugo Attardi - He looked at the sleeping city

In the history of art, a clear distinction can often be made between figurative and abstract stylistic movements. However, when an artist's goal is to represent an object that resonates with phenomenal reality but is also charged with hidden and symbolic meaning, this boundary can become blurred. Symbolism and Expressionism are emblematic stylistic movements in their conceptual interpretation of reality, with an iconic rendering of images and a symbolic interpretation in the use of color. The artist Ugo Attardi often plays with different levels of language, especially in his sacred works, to shift the meaning of images to a symbolic and spiritual level. Thus, his works present a fusion of Expressionism and Cubism.

In this work, Attardi provides an example of his interpretation of Expressionism, in which the entire process of synthesizing reality is conducted through color. It is through the application of color, rich in bright, anti-naturalistic hues and material textures, that the subjects take shape in a compressed, two-dimensional space. However, Attardi's forced expressionism never completely compromises the interpretation of reality, which remains intuitive even in a work like this. Furthermore, the central figure of John Paul II becomes almost a gravitational center around which the environment seems to interact. The surrounding space, in fact, is articulated according to multiple directions and different perspective lines, in an operation reminiscent of Cubist art. The city's buildings thus appear as pure volumes, in a mechanical reconstruction of the urban landscape.

Ugo Attardi, born in Sori in 1923 and died in Rome in 2006, was a painter and sculptor. After beginning his career as an abstract artist, joining the Forma 1 group, in the 1950s he turned to Expressionism, drawing inspiration from Bacon and Grosz. He participated in several editions of the Venice Biennale and the Rome Quadrennial and exhibited his work in numerous solo and group shows in Italy and abroad.

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