Guarire Cesare Pavese
2021
Installation, mixed media, variable dimensions
Installation view, BienNolo, Milan, Italy
I read almost everything Cesare Pavese wrote, last his diary. Profound, lucid words alternating with words drenched in suffering, alienation, despair. I rebelled.
I wanted to heal him and all those great artists who committed suicide.
In a big country house from the end of the XIX century, inhabited by several generations,
I collected gestures and left-overs: cloths, rags, pillowcases and fabrics. Folded, stained, worn out and perfectly ironed pieces, forgotten for about a century. Perfectly forgotten.
I collected phrases from Pavese’s diary and laid them next to my treasures. He spoke about a maid and I imagined her, busy folding exactly those bed sheets and towels, mending socks with thread and needle, while whistling a song. This installation – born in a hurry, developed through the years and just ended – came out of the desire to take care of this man, maybe with the same kind of care used for the domestic world a while ago.
Guarire Cesare Pavese [Healing Cesare Pavese] is an installation made of 15 independent pieces.
Titles, starting top left, are:
Ingoiare il cielo a pezzi [Gulping down the sky bit by bit], mixed media, unframed, 117 x 101,5 x 2,5 cm
L’anima e l’animale [The soul and the animal], mixed media, 2 pieces, one under plexiglass case 75,5 x 90,4 x 6,3 cm, one unframed, 57,5 x 77,5 x 18 cm
Arrostito dalla solitudine [Roasted by solitude], mixed media, under plexiglass case, 50,5 x 70,4 x 7,2 cm
Middle row:
Precipizio [Precipice] mixed media, under plexiglass case, 70,5 x 100 x 7,5 cm
L’ultimo giorno del cielo [The last day of the sky] mixed media, under plexiglass case, 85 x 65 x 6 cm
La torre dell’oblio [The tower of oblivion] mixed media, framed, 18,6 x 73,4 x 5,4 cm
Ave Cesare gratia pleno, mixed media, under plexiglass case, 80 x 65 x 6 cm
Senza più lacrime [No more tears], mixed media, under plexiglass case, 42 x 130 x 7 cm
Bottom row:
Cuore da passeggio [Walking heart], mixed media, under plexiglass case, 40,7 x 30,3 x 10,6 cm
Quando anche il sole si incaponisce [When even the sun gets stubborn], mixed media, under plexiglass case, 60 x 70 x 2,5 cm
La contessina molto adirata [The very angry little countess], mixed media, framed, 20 x 20 x 5,5 cm
Con e senza i tuoi occhi [With and without your eyes], mixed media, under plexiglass case, 30 x 40 x 5,4 cm
La diaspora della bellezza [The diaspora of beauty] mixed media, framed, 82 x 62 x 5,5 cm
L’origine di tutte le cose [The origin of all things] mixed media, under plexiglass case, 40 x 70,5 x 7,8 cm
Missing in the picture:
La casa degli innamorati è sempre vuota [The lover’s house is always empty] mixed media, under plexiglass case, 70,5 x 70,5 x 7,3 cm
Following details from: Ave Cesare gratia pleno, Precipizio, La diaspora della bellezza, Senza più lacrime
