Why wake up?

The Arte ed Altro gallery of Gattinara present "Perché svegliarsi?", the double solo show by Corrado Bonomi and Gianni Cella (curated by Chiara Argenteri). On show, from 9 June to 7 July, a series of recent works by the two artists, flanked by work done in four hands. Gianni Cella: "Perché svegliarsi?" it is a work in which we fully recognize ourselves, both. I make all the colored heads that rest on its clouds, ethereal and rarefied. Corrado Bonomi: it reproduces an aspect of our personality over the past few years, a dimension between awake and asleep, looking for something that resembles nirvana, an oasis of peace and tranquility.

It must be a desire, whether conscious or unconscious, that we both have. And in this work, finally, the two friends find themselves and carve out a small place to rest, a corner of suspension, oblivion, where to truly let go in the arms of Morpheus. The artistic choice of knowing the world through the senses of a child is not new for research. However, it is a fact that this approach to reality has won the honors of the news and has been constituting a movement, an expressive need, perhaps only during the last twenty years. This is probably due to the galloping infantilism of the whole society, where the logics that regulate behavior and relationships seem more tied to immature desires, reactions and instincts. From the supermodels waiting for the hour of recreation to take refuge in Gardaland-style discos to the kids who rattle for a 300-horse red toy, from the hysterical quarrels for a trifle to the Playstation purchased for the child, who asked for it continuously, but that does not can never find it free. The western world is going back to the early years of life.

Perhaps not to feel burdened with the terrible responsibilities that he now has on the fate of the planet, or perhaps because in the era of fac-totum technology there is a greater need to awaken ancient emotions, drives. The artists, who anticipate and respond to the requests of the world, have felt these needs in time. Corrado Bonomi and Gianni Cella live in a world made of games, disproportions, surreal characters. Everyone, some more, some less, still have teenage instincts. They verify them and coldly translate them into works of art. Their works have sarcasm, a strong component of cynicism. They have something of Monthy Pyton's lashing and insane comedy, made up of surreal and subversive groucho marx-like ramblings. They are so reminiscent of an all-Italian trend that has the tip of the iceberg in Maurizio Cattelan.

They try to displace, to propose reality from other points of view. Even children are cynical, but they do it involuntarily. Bonomi and Cella act consciously: it is always the reason that predominates in translation, in the passage from the adolescent drive to the adult world. The two artists play with art, they are attracted by paradox, by absurdity. They put distortions into a system that everyone knows. Their works resemble ready made recovered in the heritage, in the collective imagination, for an art that is within everyone's reach.

Contacts arteedaltro@libero.it