Through Borders, Through Time
Giancarlo Venturini
Over the past year I found myself taking many walks. This exercise was intended to practice mindfulness and staying present, but slowly this routine absorbed into my work. Taking a walk, I started to see shapes. Complex forms reduced to simple geometries, blocks of color came to represent the shadows, and a simple line grew to be the most thorough articulation of the subject at large. I fell into a meditative trance from creating while being out in the world around me which nullified time’s constant presence, allowing the subtle reminder of hours and minutes to slip away. The sensuous pleasure of plein air painting and drawing led me to a visual diary of my year in quarantine. I soon realized that no matter how many times I would visit the same area and remake it again, it would always be different. A new leaf, a new shadow, and a new perspective on the same place.
Although a visual diary of my year, it wouldn’t have been entirely diaristic without including bits of the quotes, lyrics, and personal writings I’ve collected alongside my observational series that detail what is felt rather than observed. The paintings utilizing text in this series are used to work through the ideas of love and relationships, and the many thoughts associated with them. The bits of prose I have included all have ambiguous meanings and some salacious undertones that work through feelings. I use typography to structure the painting and then slowly return it to abstraction. In this series, another salient theme is about borders and the implementation of them. These artworks investigate looking through borders, crossing personal ones, and the journey across international divides. Together these paintings, drawings, and sculptures are a yearlong documentation of my experiences and translation of my thoughts.
Email: gav42@rutgers.edu
Instagram: @gian_venturini