L'essenza dei legami Anna Maria Saponaro e Fabio Meneghella.

"The Essence of Bonds" Dual painting exhibition by Anna Maria Saponaro and Fabio Meneghella.

The essence of bonds is what has been built year after year, when decades ago Anna Maria Saponaro created a world around herself. She approached art in childhood and never stopped, to the point of becoming Art itself. She represented her inner dimension on canvas, treasuring every experience, every joy, and every pain. All these emotions, accumulated over time, can be read and heard simply by looking at one of her works. A graduate of the Artistic High School, she has collected various art collectives and won several awards that have allowed her to enrich her career more and more. In 2012 she began working for the Arte&Co Galleries with headquarters in Lecce, Milan, and Naples, but her works have also been featured in various editorials such as Art Expo in Monaco and Ibiza, in the special Art Expo issue displayed at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, in Expo Art magazine of Arte Padova, and in the catalog Lo Stato dell'Arte at the time of the Venice Biennale. The artist has also collaborated with the Il Melograno Art Gallery in Livorno and with Lojelo Art Gallery in Volterra. Over the years, she has participated in the International Contemporary Art Exhibition "Inside Art" at the Galerìa Aragò in Barcelona and won the England Award - Cornwall Ducate Award at the Town Hall Looe (Cornwall). She has been present at various festivals and cultural events, and her works are now housed in public galleries around the world, such as the Academy of Fine Arts in Luxor (Egypt) and in private galleries in various countries such as Canada, Tunisia, France, the United States, Belgium, Sweden, and Portugal. Throughout these years, Saponaro also transmitted her art in her private life, so much so that the family she built has always been immersed in all this beauty of which her works are made. Her son Fabio Meneghella, also an artist, obtained a degree in Set Design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari and, like his mother, never stopped painting. A lover of the art world, science, and engineering, he always founded his art on these principles, turning each work into a story to be told. Throughout his career, he participated in the Gigarte Auction House auction, exhibited at the ArtePadova International Art Fair, and collaborated with Onart Gallery in Florence, with the Melograno Art Gallery in Livorno, and with Lojelo Art Gallery in Volterra (Pisa). His works have also been exhibited in various countries around the world such as Rome, Innsbuck (Austria), Barcelona, and Palermo, and are now in various private collections in Italy and around the world including Finland, Belgium, Spain, the United States, Norway, and Austria. Two different worlds, those of Saponaro and Meneghella, but united by the bond that ties them. They are united by a common purpose, that of dreaming of pure, simple art made of a super-fine sensibility that knows no limits.

The work of Anna Maria Saponaro in a society in which appearance and distance from everything sensitive prevail, Anna Maria's art unconsciously picks up on the world recounted by the nineteenth-century writer and poet Paul Valéry. The latter was perhaps the first to combine philosophy with the art of dance and, in a collectivity made up of carefreeness and euphoria, went beyond thought, turning it into a need for movement and freedom. The traditional "philosopher-poets" intuited a kind of union between poetry, dance, and philosophy, seen as different dimensions but allied in a single scenario. Anna Maria Saponaro has thus represented this union on canvas and made it her own. Starting from the philosophical concepts of the great classical thinkers - such as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle - she merged her thoughts with the importance and necessity of dance, transforming the protagonists of her works into great thinkers. Thus, the values of freedom, individuality, the search for one's other half, the need to distance oneself from everything superfluous and selfish are followed. In a somewhat autobiographical and introspective journey, the artist has therefore represented her idea of motherhood in the work "Bonds", from which our whole journey begins. The bonds - the eternal ones - are for her a special way to unite heaven and earth, to transform the sense of emptiness into a fullness that only few can experience. The meaning is all there: in that newborn child, who brings life even where only death is seen. This is demonstrated by the tree that serves as a backdrop to the entire scenario and to which the viewer cannot help but witness. At the center of the work is a black stain, which ends up turning blue and which can never exist without the hope of those who truly believe in the eternity of feelings. The same can be seen in "Contrast of Wings", which is an overlap of characters and dreams. Saponaro's art becomes one of contrasts, an art in which man is constantly seeking his identity: the intensity of faith reflects the contemporary world. Humility and splendor become the frame of all the work and, at the bottom, there are two souls that do not have the strength to discover the truth and only those who have the courage to look at their true essence will be able to fly. Throughout the work, a Platonic and Dantean vision is discovered, as well as the awareness of being trapped in a world made of steel. On the journey that leads us to discover the truth, there is finally something beautiful and it is the eyes of a child. Thus emerge "Transparent Thoughts" and "Art is Infinite to Look at" which, in their simplicity, depict a sweet maiden with sincere and transparent eyes. A rainbow caresses the face of the former, while the latter lives only for art, as if to imply that happiness truly lies in one's childhood and never grown-up part. The same can be said of "Girl's Perfumes" and "Feathers of Dreams", which do not need words but only looks full of colors.

Anna Maria Saponaro's art, however, is not only sweetness and sensitivity, but also strength and courage. Her dancers show their muscles, demonstrating the importance of that physical - and psychological - strength necessary to face all moments of life. The full demonstration can be seen in "Aimant" and "Life is Like a Rope", the title of which already explains what the artist advises us to do, to grab hold of our existence. To exist despite difficulties, and to live beyond what is on the surface. Among other works, we must also mention "Reconstruct", aimed at healing what is broken. Dance and the desire for freedom are in fact used to give new life to what has died already from the start. In order to transform our surroundings and ourselves, we must not lose sight of the concept of time. This is what can be seen in "The Wings of Time": a time that exists within each of us but can suddenly fly away, leaving only a memory. To face this time in balance, one must use all the strength one has in the body and shed all fears and thoughts that do not allow us to breathe. The time, as recounted by Saponaro, is often also awaited: "The Power of Waiting" explains how waiting for what makes us feel good can be frustrating, and how one must accept this condition in order to grasp what has been long-awaited and often called a dream. What reassures us and often comforts us is in fact the art that has the power to make us believe more and more every day in the beauty of waiting. Music is a very important theme in Anna Maria Saponaro's work, as evidenced by the work "Infinite Travel", in which only the strings of the violin allow us to travel to unknown but still beautiful places. In the work "Masks and Faces", the artist has also included each of these themes and transformed them into masterpieces. Dance, freedom, strength, courage, transparent gazes, contrasts, hopes, but above all masks. Beauty has different faces for Anna Maria Saponaro, as well as different colors. "Defining beauty is easy: it is what makes us despair," said Paul Valéry in one of his writings. Beauty indeed has many facets, and one must grasp them all to discover oneself. And to be transported by all that takes us away from the superfluous and the externalities that often make up the world. Fabio Meneghella's works, born from the bonds built by Anna Maria Saponaro, are very different but still full of power and intensity. Fabio Meneghella's art is based on scientific themes, and for this reason it strongly echoes the thought of the writer, chemist, and partisan Primo Levi. His words, often aimed at the fragile souls belonging to a society that had to endure the Second World War, resonate in Fabio Meneghella's art. Graduated in chemistry and always passionate about scientific methods and new inventions, Levi's gaze was always filtered through science, a defining element that set him apart. His themes, in fact, remind me - a lot - of the intent and the way of painting of the artist Meneghella who, in his desire for the surreal, helps us understand that reality exists and is everywhere around us. That even a single glance can be made of glass and that, in the transparency of our souls, we can always see from other perspectives. Fabio Meneghella's art also delves into hidden emotions, allowing us to see transparently what we cannot imagine with our eyes. An example is found in "Theory of Codes", which is an anthem to different personalities. Almost like a science fiction approach, the man in the foreground fully reflects the viewer's thoughts and remains in balance between two worlds, living in harmony with his own thoughts. His concentration and his role as a thinking individual are thus conveyed. Behind him are the codes that represent the emblem of his life and the basis of all that he has built. The artist suddenly exits that reality and delves into astronomical theories, as seen in "Per Aspera Ad Astra" ("Through hardships to the stars"), in which the only protagonist is the night sky, which we often pause to admire. The body is divided in two and, completely soaring from the ground, flies towards the sky as if to demonstrate the necessity of having stars in our lives. The sky is the only place where we can seek refuge when obstacles suddenly appear, and Meneghella's work proves that completely immersing ourselves in the stars can often be a source of salvation. Only those who have known the power of the stars can cling with all their might to life. This is what is demonstrated in the work "The Tree of Life", considered a colored book, whose pages must be carefully flipped through without distraction. The tree is behind us and always watches over us, becoming transparent and with discreet, invisible lines. We stand there, with our backs to him, focused on our fears and vulnerabilities, as we try to deliver an artificial blow to those who try to harm us. Like a bionic arm, we abandon our nature in search of something beyond: fears, moments of tears, pains, we chase everything around us. Serenity is all that remains and is reflected in the eyes of the children and women painted by Meneghella who, with an unmatched sensitivity, manages to fully capture the sweetness of those who still believe in the beauty of values. "Harmony", "Quantum World, Entanglement", "Quantum World, Tunnel Effect", and "Princess Marie" are the result. Over the years, the artist has often dived into a dreamlike journey that has given life to art made of depth and less artifice. An example can be found in the work "Illusory Dream. Reality in the Mind", a true journey into the human brain. The reality we live in is like a colored world, full of dancers and blind gazes. This is why our bodies cross each other, intertwining and becoming one being. The man's eyes turn white, to show us that in dreams, eyes are not needed to see, but only a soul to imagine. Fabio Meneghella's art must be looked at with eyes closed, because only in this way can we perceive its essence completely. Hidden messages, humanity that goes beyond Earth, a gaze turned to the sky: a few elements that make up the world of his works. "To conquer matter is to understand it, and understanding matter is necessary to understand the universe and ourselves," said Paolo Levi in one of his works. Fabio Meneghella understands this fully, and this is why we see matter printed in his works and, gazing at it, we can better see ourselves. And be involved in what we cannot see but still have the strength to dream every night.

Art Criticism by journalist Stefania Meneghella
from 8 to 14 September
Vernissage: Sunday, September 8 at 7:30 pm
Exhibition hours: 10-13 and 17-20
Art and MORE Gallery
Via Cardassi 24, Bari
FREE ENTRY.
Web: www.art-and-more.it/eventi/