Time of transformation. Andrea Mancini’s artwork identifies him as the painter of chaos and transformation of the apparently disorganized forward motion that modulates life, death and its consequential renewal. In fact all living things must necessarily die in order to change shape and name, thus being regenerated. So works the human being, notwithstanding its self deceptions.
When Andrea Mancini chooses to represent the cyclical course of life by transforming whatever solid waste, he is actually depicting that which is no more, that has no further use, but will be, at the same time, reborn to a new form and delivered back to the Universe. Conscious of the ephemeral nature of things that must necessarily die in order to be regenerated, the artist is undeterred by the beauty of cast off rubbish, by non-beauty. He knows that all that lives, must die and through death, will live again. “Faith consists in knowing that, after the end, there will be a new beginning”, writes psychoanalyst and storyteller, Clarissa Pinkola Estés; only those who understand life’s natural transformation will be able to overcome the horror of death and perceive the true essence of life. Thus, piles of wool and unsteady bales of paper, mounds of plastic and iron scrap are granted sudden glory as they await their rebirth: they will assume a different name, form and destination. New energy. This is the direction in which Andrea’s very specific research moves: interweaving past, present and future he explores recycling assemblage areas and then transfers the material onto canvas, thereby witnessing the passage of all that which, only briefly, appears to belong to us, but then leaves us, only to return once more.
(Giovanna Cardini)
Florence, april 2012
