Humanitas
Master’s Degree in Visual Arts – Decoration
Description of the work
The word “man” derives from the Latin word homo, closely related to the term humus (earth), in particular moist, watery earth (from humor or umor), i.e., cultivable. Looking at the verb cultivate, it takes on different meanings and obviously expresses the act of working the land, but also the sense of inhabiting, honoring, and living. Therefore, cultivation is not only understood as agriculture, but also as culture of the soul or religious worship. Man has therefore always imagined a close link between himself and the earth, and this concept most likely derives from a series of questions to which our species originally had to find an answer. Humans began to ask themselves various questions: about existence, the reason for their presence on Earth, the fact that they were endowed with consciousness and were different from any other animal in their ability to reason and formulate these same thoughts. Their first impulse was, therefore, to find confirmation in their surrounding environment, and the most important external factors were the earth and the sky. Our ancestors had a very strong connection to the earth, to the point of giving themselves names connected to it. But something happened to our humanity during our evolution. Only today have we realized that we must protect and preserve this unbreakable bond. How is it possible that we have forgotten what we mean?
The meaning
With “Humanitas,” I intend to speak of what we have been and what we might continue to be. Even before finding a name for things or for himself, man felt the need to gather earth—the very earth he would later cultivate—and transform it. Through signs, gestures, or geometric shapes, he created drawings to represent the world he observed around him. Throughout his evolutionary journey, he developed not only a language but also increasingly refined techniques to translate the life he experienced, yet he never forgot the origins of those gestures, signs, and forms.
Consider, for example, the geometric form of the circle. In art history, beyond carrying various symbolic meanings, it appears as the tondo: from Michelangelo’s Tondo Doni and Tondo Pitti to Caravaggio’s Head of Medusa, and Emilio Vedova’s Tondi in gestural informalism. It is also found in the symbol of eternity represented by the Ouroboros—a serpent biting its own tail—which takes the exact shape of a circle.
Regarding gestures and free, dynamic signs, one might look to Jean Dubuffet’s Art Brut or American Abstract Expressionism—from Willem de Kooning to Franz Kline, and specifically Jackson Pollock, whose art was influenced by Native American traditions.
Finally, consider the various techniques, particularly the decorative art of mosaic, where a specific design is reproduced using fragments of different materials, known as tesserae. Originating with history’s earliest civilizations, the mosaic stands as one of the primal artistic forms. It is a technique so versatile that it has allowed for the covering of not only floors but also the walls and chapels of entire churches, such as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Basilica of San Vitale, or Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
The message I want to convey
“Humanitas” aims to embody all of this, from the geometric shape of the circle representing planet Earth to the decorative technique of mosaic recalling the eternity of knowledge, where fragments of micro and macro plastics take the place of marble and glass paste tiles, recreating the shapes of the veins that the wood itself suggested to me (as a tribute to the first teacher of art, namely Nature). Finally, the free, dynamic and, in some places, aggressive marks represent the strength and energy of Nature, made of liquid rubber to remind us that Gaia’s blood is oil, the same oil we extract to produce our “plastic” (and more). ‘Humanitas‘ was created to remind us of our humanity, reminding us of the precious transmission and delivery of knowledge that has been given to us. As well as being a denunciation of our inappropriate use of technofossil materials, this work becomes an obligation to reflect on our current humanity and, above all, on what we will leave to those who come after us.