space,colour, and matter
Eduardo Rodà
ANNO V No. 59
Alta velocità
SPACE,
COLOUR, AND MATTER
eduardo
rodà
By Gianguido Fucito
Montrealer
by birth (1954), Eduardo Rodà studied in Italy and in Quebec.
This
visual document is a window on his most recent works exhibited at Galerie
Bernard, from November 17th to December 18th, 2004.
Once
again, his paintings suggest a reflection on the current art scene, a pause
before the image’s intrusion on everyday present life. Here are works that
demonstrate different ways an image can be looked at, confronted, and opposed.
By
committing himself to (geometric) abstraction, Rodà often favours the square,
representing in a significant manner, the details of screen and matter through
austere works reduced to their spartan essence. At first glance, his works
appear rigid and static, but, they quickly reveal an uncommon depth, rich with
matter, whereby the arrested image forces us to seek an area of familiarity.
Textures take on a decided responsibility; spatial development allows us to
relive, in a perceptual manner, the relationship between these same spaces and
colour. Each painting is also a testimonial to a state of mind unconditioned by
any historical reference.
Geometric
abstraction is also called “cold” abstraction, shade and relief “geometrism”, however, is still
present. Rodà conducts an obstinate search of planes, forms, lines, and
colours, as practiced by Dewasne, Herbin, Magnelli, Mortensen and others, even
if overshadowed by Nicolas Schoffer’s “lyrical” tendency artistic moments that emerged in the
‘60s, leading to a new direction brought on by “Op Art” and “Minimal Art”; an
evolution that veered far from Mondrian’s and constructivism’s initial ideas.
Rodà
plays with the effect of matter and seeks sensory values in which sign, layers
of paint, and vibration of colours are predominant. Finally, his work leads us
to psychological consequences brought about essentially by juxtaposition of
matter as well as colour.
10.
Bibliographical Notes
“In his most recent works, the artist creates
space-screens through repetitions of form on surface, while allowing for a play
of fine texture in a subtle manner. (...) Framing is the key element of the
pictorial representation, the foundation stone of his proposal, whether plastic
or symbolic.”
2002 – Robert Bernier, La peinture au Québec depuis les
années 1960, (p. 120-121), Les Éditions de l’homme, Montréal
Proscènium. “A session of hypnosis conducted through
the min- imalist works of Eduardo Rodà.”
2001 – Vidéo d’Art expérimentale de David Mollet, Montréal,
Production et distribution : Arteka, Montréal, 20e Festival International du
Film sur l’Art, FIFA, 12 - 17 mars 2002, Montréal
Image – Detail. “(...) delicate balance of an image
that lives and surpasses the power of detail within detail. (...) Rodà offers a
reflection on the immediacy of memory, at once an illusory and real vision,
made up by coupling image-screens.”
2000 – Gianguido Fucito, Proscènium – Si prés si loin,
Maison de la Culture Ahuntsic-Cartierville, 4 novembre - 16 décembre, Montréal
“Abstractions of historical avant-gardes, the fugacity
and hardness of mediatic images, the incessant visual enticements are, from a
visual perspective, used as a base for the creation of similar works, (...)”
1999 – Isabelle
Riendeau, La forme dans tous ses états, Le Journal de Ville Mont-Royal et Le
Point d’Outremont, 26 février et 12 mars, Montréal“
By questioning the possibilities and the limitations
of painting, Rodà refuses the horizon line – a fixed point of view – obliging
the spectator to immerse into the canvas in the pursuit of technological
knowledge that will reveal a poetic dimension.”
1999 – Gianguido Fucito, Mémoires en Transit, Galerie
Bernard, mars, Montreal”
(...) Eduardo Rodà proposes an explosive screening of
his works, a game of successive inversions, where the image as object and the
painting as object are conducive to reflections on the function of art and its
relationship with man’s knowledge and conscience at the dawn of the 21st
century.”
1998 – Sylvana Micillo
Vilata, Parcours : les artistes d’origine italienne d’hier à aujourd’hui,
Basilio Giordano, Montréal
“These are works to be viewed initially from a
distance, to better grasp the plastic effects, then approach them slowly until
the painting’s grain, whose different textures change the meaning of painted
surfaces, is visible.”
1992 – Eliane Gaudet, Bleus sages, (...) Le Droit, 11
janvier, Ottawa-Hull
© Eduardo
Rodà
List of works reproduced
1.
Italica – acrylic on convas 36.5 x 51 cm. - 2004 – Private
Collection
2.
News - acrylic
on convas 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 – Artist Collection
3.
Parcourir 1 – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 – Private Collection
4.
Haute Vitesse – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 - Artist Collection
5.
Ouverture – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51cm. – 2004 - Artist Collection
6.
Fermer – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 – Artist
Collection
7. Electronic
Storm – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 – Private
Collection
8.
Agrandir – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 – Artist Collection
9.
Download – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 –
Leinardi Private Collection – Museo Arte Contemporanea Calassetta Italy
10.
Mutazioni Cellulari – acrylic on convas – 36.5 x 51 cm. – 2004 – Artist Collection
Translated by Ana Rodà
* A
free printed catalog is available for this exhibition in both English and French.
If interested, please forward your postal address to: proscenio170@gmail.com
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