Become Acquainted With The Exciting Italian Artist Alfredo Sereni
A couple of weeks ago I went to Assisi to visit Basilica di San Francesco to see the art of Cimabue and the greatest artist trough time, Giotto, once again. But to my surprise I also met a great still living artist, Alfredo Sereni.
Alfredo Sereni was born and is still living in Foligno, not far from Assisi. He started painting at a very young age and soon became a full time artist. The day I met him, he was preparing for his exhibition at ARTGALLERY Santa Chiara which was to start a couple of days later.
The exhibition is called "Atmosfere" (Atmospheres) and aproaching Sereni´s art, we really understood why. The airiness and the light in all the artworks were overwelming.
Alfredo Sereni´s paintings can, at first sight, look like hyperrealistic landscape paintings.The hyperrealistic painters were inspired by Baudrillard and his book Simulacra and Simulation, which is about a reality that never has existed. According to Sereni himself, he is painting an illusion of the nature, the same as the hyperrealistic painters, but Sereni´s paintings are so much more than that.
"His paintings are a true revelation of light through nature."(Catalog for the exhibition) I couldn´t agree more. Looking at the picture Otre (Beyond) from 2014 there is no doubt about the light playing the main role. We see a kind of a fence, not a nice one. In the background we see a beautiful landscape. Read metaphorically it can be a visualization of hope, given by the landscape.
Looking at the next painting, it is a tree struggling in the river. "His portaits of trees and valleys are nothing else than views of our soul." (Catalog for the exhibition). Reading it like this it is a storm going on inside us. No wonder considering everything that is happening in our world today. Nevertheless there is also hope in this painting, given by the beautiful light and use of colours.
In the Bassa marea (Low tide) we find different stones in different shapes, colours and sizes. They are all beautiful like jewels, exactly like all human beings should basically be seen.
In the painting Il tenace (the tenacious) we are approaching another tree. It´s an old tree, marked by the ravages of time, but still standing.
Trees can symbolize many things; but most of all growth in different ways. Reading the tree in Il tenace as a symbol of life, it can be a symbol of catharsis, which many of us have to face through life. According to Aristoteles, after catharsis you will still be standing, just like the tree and you will be Il tenace too.
In the painting Il varco (the gap) we see a pigeon sitting in a kind of a window. Maybe the pigeon has been trapped, but now there´s a gap ready for the bird to escape. And just like the pigeon, if we sometimes open up inside we will be free like the bird.
We started this text with me being so lucky to meet the artist Alfredo Sereni in Assisi a couple of weeks ago when he was preparing for his exhibition "Atmosfere" in the ARTGALLERY Santa Chiara in Assisi. His works nearly took my breath away. They were all so beautiful in their kind of realism, their colours, but most of all their shining light. Most of them were a kind of illusion, like Maya in the hinduism or like Baudrillard, a reality that doesn´t exist. But that is not entirely true. The painting with the tree in the senter is from a real place in Umbria. Sereni told me that there is no problem if anyone want him to paint a real place, but I can imagine that it will be a beautiful painting for the customer to love.
Alfredo Sereni is a great artist who is well known both in Italy and abroad and I am so grateful for get the opportunity to meet him and discover his art.
The exhibition "Atmosfere" will last until the third of July.