Forme de lumière
Gianfredo Camesi (*1940)

 

Gianfredo Camesi, Forme de lumière, 1997, oil on canvas. Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana, Lugano. Collezione Cantone Ticino. Gift of the artist

Regarded as one of the first exponents of Swiss Conceptual art, Gianfredo Camesi focuses on the fleeting intersection of time and space encapsulating the unique moment in history that defines our existence. In line with the exploratory spirit that characterized the art world in the 1950s and 1960s, he embarks on a pictorial investigation influenced by Informalism, which hinges on the values of gesture, sign and material analysis. In Chemin du corps, the artist walks on a line of paint that he has allowed to flow from the tube onto the support. The painting, which originates outdoors in a metaphorical crossing of the landscape, becomes a trace of life, legible only within that partial fragment of nature represented on the canvas. Forme de lumière, on the other hand, inscribes the artist’s existence onto the materiality of painting through both physical and spiritual gestures. After applying an even layer of paint to the canvas, the artist places his outstretched fingers on the support. Then he gradually closes his hands to create small rays of light by removing the still fresh black paint. The works embody a poetic relationship with the macrocosm, encouraging viewers to engage mindfully with the space around them.