The art of Ray Piscopo (b. 1954) presents itself, first and foremost, as colourful with stark realism. These surface qualities draw one’s immediate attention to the subject they represent. However, a closer, deeper look reveals a well-balanced orchestration of geometrical images. These are produced almost magically by a kaleidoscope similar to the individual tiny tesserae effect in a mosaic. Patches of isolated colours bring the subject to life – in fact, the artist attended a workshop by Luciano Notturni in Ravenna, Italy, in mosaics.
The colours are generally applied with hard edges. At times they are slightly blended into softer gradations. Realism and abstraction are placed side by side without our immediate realisation; a decorative coherence that is the result of a systematic organisation of exclusive components, namely plane, colour and composition.
These observations bring to mind the artist Maurice Denis (1870-1943), a brilliant theoretician. Founder of the Nabis Movement, he proposed – when he was only 20 and as yet unknown, a definition of painting that goes like this: “remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote… is essentially a flat surface covered in colour assembled in a certain order”.
It was a prophetic definition of what painting was to be in the years ahead (nabi, in Hebrew, means prophet). This is Piscopo’s personal iconography, a pictorial language that bridges traditional forms of art, particularly by the subject matter chosen.
In this exhibition, for instance, there are clear references to the art of Caravaggio, placed side by side a firm grasp of modernism manifested in patches of brilliant colours.
The artist comes to this new aesthetic aided by computers as a contemporary tool. The computer is used in the manipulation of photographic images that undergo a transformation by a process of simplification of shapes rendered in flat colour surfaces.
On one end, one feels the constraints of the subject and its emphasis on portraits, human anatomy and general realism. At the same time, there is a break brought about by the explosion of decorative elements; the fruit of imagination. I find that, in many instances, the artist successfully achieves both effects as demonstrated in the paintings I have selected to discuss here.
A key work in this exhibition is The Maltese Lace Maker (acrylic on canvas, 90 x 60cm, 2015). The viewer is immediately taken by the photographic quality of the painting, the outdoor light that models the subject and by the short-sleeved upper garment that the young woman is wearing. The effect is super realistic.
A synthesis that transforms and transcends the reproduction of nature
Yet, on closer examination, the work has painterly qualities too. There are evident sweeps of the brush, gestures placed in care-ful tonalities in the right place and form.
Then, there are the geometrical patterns of the lace designs, which complement the colourful background that, in itself, is an abstract rendition of vegetation or a drape. The work reminds me of, and offers an interesting parallelism with, another work by Luciano Micallef (b. 1954) with the same title, which was shown in a collective exhibition held at the Libyan Arab Cultural Institute, Valletta, in 1977, at a time when he focused on the medium of batik.
Odalisque, based on Jean Baptiste Ange Tissier (1814-1876), is essentially an abstract symphony that only gains recognition of the subject because of the inclusion and emphasis of the faces and hands, which otherwise would remain just patches of colour placed in a certain order.
Madonna dei Pellegrini, on the other hand, is based on Caravaggio and offers but a detail of the altarpiece. But the crisp sharpness of the image as manifested in the faces, hands contrasts with the soft diffused application of paint in the background. The deep saturated colours of blue and magenta in the folds contrast with the soft light greens in the background. A similar effect is noticeable in Man with Goats, where the white canvas plays a key role as it reveals a textured surface. The whiteness of the untouched canvas is a colour in itself.
I foresee in Piscopo’s art an attempt at achieving simplicity, a synthesis that transforms and transcends the reproduction of nature, where a new pictorial language is born according to the abstract rhythms found in nature.
The first part of Abstract Rhythms in Nature takes place at the Banca Giuratale, Town Hall, Victoria, between Monday and December 28. The second will take place at the Cavalieri Art Hotel, St Julian’s, between December 12 and January 13.
www.raypiscopo.com