Giuseppe Colombo, bearer of light. The Sicilian painter’s paintings on display: “What a turning point the meeting with Guccione was”

Each image is illuminated. This is the title of the exhibition painter Giuseppe Colombo which opens on Friday 2 February in Bologna in the historic spaces Forni art gallery. Curator of the exhibition is Mario Di Capua, teacher of contemporary art at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples. The text of the catalog published by Pazzini editore is his. On display are around twenty oil paintings, pastels and large-format drawings. The exhibition is part of the Art City activities of Bologna Fiera. A weekend that sees the Emilian capital as the scene of numerous events dedicated to contemporary art.
“I think Columbus is really, pictorially, a bringer of light. As Piero Guccione, a fundamental master that Giuseppe always keeps with him, under his eyelids”, we read in the critical text by Marco Di Capua. This is the stylistic signature of the Sicilian painter. All of his pictorial research is a spasmodic attention to the mystery of light. The same delicate amazement of the writer Raymond Carver who saw happiness in the dim light of his room illuminated by the first rays of the sun. Happiness that sneaks in like an epiphany, a gentle caress.

The curator wanted to underline his connection with a great artist like Piero Guccione.
«Guccione was a founding meeting. The first time I found myself in front of one of his works was in the workshop of a framer in Modica. On that occasion I was able to observe those paintings for a long time. I was admired by that aesthetic so high that it seemed unparalleled to me. Piero then saw my works and wanted to meet me. Over time an extraordinary friendship was consolidated. He was a great man as well as an immense artist. It is rare to meet an author who lives up to the beauty of his works. Guccione was generous and cultured. He exuded the same calm that his paintings expressed. We collaborated on the execution of the tondo of the vault of the Garibaldi theater in Modica. He used a curious paper palette that I studied furtively, in search of the secret of his incomparable blue.”
Why does he resort to a compositional device, that of landscapes glimpsed between the branches of enormous trees?
«They are references to the pictorial lesson of Balthus and Cézanne. But above all it is a respect for Guccione’s painting. A way to make a necessary distinction from its open skies and seas. Precisely so as not to end up in an immediate reference to his painting. The feeling of admiration for his paintings is so consolidated in me that any attempt to refer to them appears to me as a sort of lack of respect. I therefore looked for different, personal aesthetic and compositional solutions. These latest paintings were born as a continuous subtraction.”

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What importance does drawing have in your works?
«Drawing forms the backbone of my paintings. I trained in Urbino during the engraving course. When I moved to Rome to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, every morning I went to visit the church of Santa Maria dei Francesi. Every day was a new discovery while admiring Caravaggio’s painting. For drawing, his lesson and also that of the Renaissance painters remain essential. Any pencil drawing fascinates me. I am even captivated by the noise and smell of graphite on the sheet of paper.”
Is it difficult to become a painter while staying in Sicily?
«Obviously, it involves quite a few difficulties. But it instills the right serenity to be able to concentrate on the daily work of painting. In a large metropolis it would be difficult to achieve the same abstraction.”
Why do you decide to exhibit in a gallery, in defiance of the method of installations and happenings?
«In this sense I am a traditionalist. For me, the relationship with the gallery owner is essential, an institution that must be preserved. They lend credibility and order to an artist’s work. They regulate relations with critics and the market. I had already exhibited in this gallery. First with the “Scicli group”, the pictorial movement founded by Guccione. Then, in 2014 Paola Forni wanted to dedicate a solo show to me.”

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These new works of his are united by the theme of light.
«I am wary of rigid plans. I can’t let myself be seized by cycles. I need to go from a landscape to a portrait. Mysteriously however, the narratives interpenetrate, as happened with these works on display. Despite the diversity of the themes, they compose a mysteriously logical sequence. Landscapes and portraits are united by the fascinating theme of light.”
For some time now there has been a new trend, the return to traditional painting.
«I confess that contemporaneity causes me confusion. I have never felt guilty about my way of understanding painting. Art, for me, has no time. However, everyone is free to take refuge in his expressive conviction. However, I do not agree with those who deny that painting is also an artisanal discipline, in its gestures and choice of materials. I still only use the basic colors and opaque white. I mount the canvases on the frames that I have made. I like this craftsmanship, I use Canson papers for the pastels. For this exhibition in Bologna I also prepared two paintings on wood, as was once done. The avant-garde is the oldest thing in the history of art.”