No. 94326360

Castagna Maurizio 1961 - XL- Esplosione di Colore e Movimento
No. 94326360

Castagna Maurizio 1961 - XL- Esplosione di Colore e Movimento
"Explosion of Color and Movement" - The Vibrant Force of Dynamic Abstraction
This composition by Maurizio Castagna, made in mixed media on a generously sized canvas (80x100 cm), presents itself as an explosion of pictorial energy, in which color and gesture merge in an almost musical dynamism. The title, "Explosion of Color and Movement", is not a simple descriptor, but a declared manifesto of the artistic intent: here there is no space for stasis, every square centimeter pulsates, breathes, moves. It is a work that demands our attention and, at the same time, invites us to an immersive, almost physical experience.
Castagna, with an academic education at the illustrious Accademia Albertina in Turin, demonstrates his stylistic evolution with this canvas: a conscious and thoughtful transition from classical figurative art - the result of the observation of masters such as Caravaggio, Dalì and Magritte - to the abstract expressionism of Pollock, de Kooning and Krasner. And this legacy is not only studied, but lived, metabolized. In fact, one senses his personal reinterpretation of that language, which here is not a mere replica, but rather an original reworking.
Composition and visual language
The first visual impact with the work is dominated by a dialectic of tensions: the sharp and nervous, almost graphic black contrasts with the vibrant color spots, in which pink and yellow impose themselves as emotional nuclei. These colors, distributed with apparent randomness, actually reveal a compositional rigor that betrays the hand of an artist aware and master of his own gesture. The gray-blue background creates an unstable, almost floating base, which amplifies the dynamism of the entire composition.
The dense, stratified pictorial matter appears as the result of a physical, corporeal process. It is as if the artist had engaged in a fight with color, where the pictorial gesture becomes the narration of an interior movement. It is not difficult to imagine Castagna working on the canvas, moved by a creative fury that brings him closer to Pollock's pictorial performances, but with a more intimate, more "Italian" chromatic awareness.
The echo of tradition and personal innovation
The strength of "Explosion of Color and Movement" also lies in its ability to create a dialogue between past and present. The memory of classicism, precision and study can be perceived, but this is deliberately fragmented, deconstructed, to leave room for immediacy and spontaneity. The blacks recall the incisive and structural sign of a De Kooning, but the pink and yellow, warm and almost carnal, evoke a chromatic lyricism that recalls Afro and Rothko.
The direct knowledge of Samuel Lewis Francis is manifested in the liberating use of color as a living material, which becomes the absolute protagonist, while the black lines seem to hold and at the same time explode, creating a precarious, never definitive balance.
Conclusion: a work that breathes
"Explosion of Color and Movement" is a testimony of how abstract expressionism can still speak with force today, reinventing itself through hands that have learned from tradition without being slaves to it. It is a work that does not seek to please, but to impose itself, to excite. Its material richness and its dynamic language do not leave you indifferent: it is a canvas that looks at you, scrutinizes you and drags you into its vortex.
Maurizio Castagna, with this work, shows that he is not only a follower of great masters, but an autonomous creator, capable of fusing his figurative past with the audacity of abstraction. A work of great power and suggestion. Congratulations!
Castagna Maurizio is an Italian painter.
He attended the Academia Albertina in Turin.
He started with classical painting.
For the episcopal curia of Asti directed by the architect Don Quaglia, he created the portrait of the bishop H.E. Mons. Sibilla, a canvas measuring 3.50 x 2.20 metres dedicated to the stoning of Saint Stephen placed behind the altar of the church of the Stefanine nuns and various restorations.
He created the portrait of Archbishop S.E. Mons. Bommarito for the Curia of Catania.
He created the portrait of the bishop S.E. Mons. Garssia for the Curia of Caltanissetta.
His works are found in public and private collections in Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Poland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, Hungary, Finland, USA, Dubai, China and Japan.
His works have been published in the Bolaffi Art Catalogue n. 22 1987, Art Catalogue il Quadrato 1988, Art Catalogue il Quadrato 1989, Catalogue of Italian Modern Art n.36, Giorgio Mondadori Publishing House 2000, Castagna Maurizio, Monograph, Elede Editrice, 2004, Catalogue of Italian Modern Art n.40, Giorgio Mondadori Publishing House 2004, Catalogue of Italian Modern Art n.40 Giorgio Mondadori Publishing House 2004, Monthly Art Magazine “ARTE” Giorgio Mondadori Publishing House 2005, Catalogue of Italian Modern Art n.41 Giorgio Mondadori Publishing House 2005, The Illusion of the Dream, Giorgio Mondadori Publishing House 2008, Catalogue of Italian Modern Art n.45 Giorgio Mondadori Publishing House 2009, Monreale, Collection of Italian Contemporary Art, Centro Diffusione Arte Editore.
His references are Jackson Pollock, Lenore Krasner, Afro, Birolli, Severini, Montanarini, Mark Rothko, Willem De Kooning and Samuel Lewis Francis whom he knew.
His painting is composed of multiple layers that remain imprinted on the canvas and can also be seen when other layers of pigments, egg tempera, enamels, acrylics and resins created by the artist are applied.
Castagna's work is composed with automatic procedures, unconditioned and spontaneous gestures, like the surrealists. His works are not born as "studied art" but rely partly on chance, painting in an impulsive and instinctive way where the gesture becomes the expression of a state of mind, an explosion of a charge of energy and an inner drive that do not follow a predetermined plan, but almost automatically support an uncontrollable impulse from the depths, recounting an emotion in the very moment in which it is formed: the gesture thus also takes on a strong symbolic value and becomes a liberating, and almost therapeutic, means of the inner psychological charge, the gesture is strength, anarchy, escape from conventions.
The gesture, in short, is transformed and enriched with nuances and personal interpretations, expressed in a thousand different ways, all expressive of different visions of the world, confirming itself as a basic universal language that transcends any cultural or personal boundary.
Of Castagna Okwui Enwezor said: “…Castagna’s Painting does not represent or express an objective or subjective reality: it releases a tension that has accumulated inside, the margin of chance is minimal: it is he who chooses the colors, measures the quantities, determines with his own gestures and sensations the type of stain to impress and the quantity of resins to mix to give the right dimension, emotion, suggestion, thrill and interest to the work…”
Hand signed on the back. Includes certificate of authenticity.
Description of the work “Explosion of Color and Movement”
Mixed media: acrylic, chalk, pigments, enamel, egg tempera and resins created by the artist.
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