Tende
2021
Info
Title: Tende
Technique: Photography
Year: 2021
Size: 35 x 50 cm
Unique print
L’incontro
Lontano da lontano
un incontro nel blu
specchio del tempo
si apre e si chiude
come la fisarmonica
e la musica che fa
sublimata in una dolce cadenza
liberata dall'eco dispettoso
del male vissuto.
È andato via lontano
sfugge all’orizzonte.
Sei negli occhi la carne
su cui ho tracciato i ricordi
punto a punto.
Sono solchi 'd'amore sincero
che nessuno approvava
che nessuno ci ruba.
Solamente nostro.
(Barbara Bertoncelli)
Critical text by Silvia Grassi Art Curator:
Barbara Bertoncelli, with her works “La ricerca dell'Uno” (2009) and “Tende” (2021), invites us on a sensory and intellectual journey where photography becomes a medium for exploring the boundary between reality and imagination, between perception and symbolism. Her images, accompanied by poems that amplify the evocative power of her visual compositions, establish a profound dialogue between visual and literary arts, opening up a reflection on the very essence of aesthetic experience.
[...]
In “Tende”, created twelve years later, we find a different iteration of Bertoncelli’s poetics. Here, her focus shifts to fabric, specifically a texture of colors and folds that overlap, creating an abstract and layered image. The alternating red and blue tones form a visual rhythm reminiscent of waves or the breath of a living organism. The work seems to capture a moment of tension and release, almost as if it were a metaphor for time contracting and expanding. The accompanying poem, *“L’incontro”*, underscores this movement, evoking a dialogue between distance and presence, memory and desire.
The choice to explore a seemingly simple subject like fabric is intentional, drawing attention to what is often invisible or taken for granted. In this sense, Bertoncelli situates herself within an artistic tradition ranging from Lucio Fontana, with his slashed canvases, to Wolfgang Tillmans, who has frequently explored everyday surfaces and materials through photography. However, Bertoncelli’s approach is more intimate and meditative, focusing on the narrative and symbolic potential of detail.
Despite their stylistic and thematic differences, “La ricerca dell'Uno” and “Tende” share a tension toward abstraction and the evocation of universal meanings. Both works serve as fragments of a broader discourse where the visible becomes a starting point for exploring the invisible. Light, color, and movement are the key elements Bertoncelli employs to construct a visual language that transcends the ordinary and evokes profound emotions.
The use of poetry as an integrative element further enriches this exploration, creating a synergy between words and images that recalls the Romantic tradition but with a contemporary sensibility. Like the visual poetry of the 1960s, text and image enhance one another, offering the viewer a multiplicity of interpretive layers.
Barbara Bertoncelli stands out for her ability to transform photography into a medium of poetic and philosophical exploration. Her works, though diverse in form and content, share a focus on the intimate and universal dimensions of human experience. In an era where photographic imagery is often reduced to immediate visual consumption, Bertoncelli invites us to pause, to contemplate, to seek what lies beyond the visible surface. “La ricerca dell'Uno” and “Tende” are thus not merely artworks but also instruments of reflection, capable of revealing the hidden essence of reality.