The following is a selection of the most representative works by Luigi Minguzzi throughout his career, as narrated through the words of his mentor . (1)
“In terms of image and optics, the works by Luigi Minguzzi of the period 1964-1974 show some
recurring patterns, whose most evident and paradigmatic elements are:
air and water, sky and sea and their characteristic motion.
The wave as a result of our interaction with the elements.
Still according to this interpretative key, we can find other sensation-elements directly related to the above: rarefaction, density (rendered in colour and thickness), absence of gravity (represented through heavy elements placed on oblique and ascending planes, conveying a vaguely hallucinatory feeling of “suspense”, occasionally exacerbated by a sense of uncontrollable falling, communicated through the irregularity of a descending trail which suddenly “breaks” into a swirling pattern); pressure (lines progressively approaching each other); and again, sunlight refraction and reflection (sometimes rendered through the creation of physical actuators, such as the Perspex prisms which “come to life” whenever they are hit by sunlight; other times they are reproduced by arranging the colours of the visible light spectrum
in harmonious succession).
His early works (1964-1966) seem almost a naturalistic “reportage” as they are mainly related to the sea, still lacking a comprehensive meaning; they convey the sensation of a subtle taste for precision and accuracy of details.
These works already feature an element which will be found throughout his later production: a small mosaic parallelepiped, or a small stone, representing the author and, more precisely, his body within the formal context of the image, his intellectuality in the substantial context of labour.
This is the stone which, swimming under water, determines the pressure’s polychrome wave; it is also the flying man at one with the flying machine, leaving a trail of vapour and smoke in the sky (already being deformed and melted by the wind, whereas before it was so solid and clear).
Now man, as well as his spirit, races towards the separation line of the worlds, determined to enter the immaterial dimension, in order to obtain a solution to the eternal problem of existence through clear epistemological research.
Man knows almost all the aspects of the world he is leaving: details abound.
But he knows nothing about where is going: he is completely separate from this world, yet it is accessible and must be considered as a point of arrival.
In his very early production, the man’s trail (what he leaves behind during his life and research) is a little one: just a trail which, as we said above, will soon be dispersed by the wind.
Later works show that this trace is destined to blossom and become a flower; further on, it seems to explode in an overwhelming variety of colours and meanings.
In my opinion, the artist here gains awareness of two concepts: an increased integration of man into his world (matched by the arising of the hope to communicate: the trail must not be cancelled) and a sensitivity now focused on the man himself, discovering how, in addition to nature, man can be beautiful too, a worthy subject of his own thought.
In 1970-71 the artist ends his existential quest.
Now he is convinced that “man can go wherever he wants to”.
Rather than an epistemological conquest, this is perhaps the conclusion of an urge to search, a necessity that disappears, not due to the satisfaction of the need itself, but to the setting of a new target: this is the beginning of the 1971-74 period.
Here the artist introduces technical and phantasmagorical elements into his works, in order to represent, through the explosion of bubbles, the proliferation of the many personalities that live within a grown man; here he is ironic with the truth, showing us rough surfaces and inviting us to touch them, only to discover that those surfaces hide a silk-like and transparent layer separating us from the matter below; here he calls us to a cheerful solemnity by building a sun, which is the man and his objective at the same time, suggesting perhaps that geometry is calculated by a “computer” due to the very sharpness we can draw from them and the evident search for certain dimensions.”(1)
Let’s now see his artistic path from 1975 to this day, in the words of Minguzzi himself.
“Access to cheap computer technology with huge calculation capacity and the availability of sophisticated image editing software opened the doors to new means of artistic expression that were unthinkable and technically unfeasible only a few years ago.
These new research and work tools now allow for the reinterpretation of traditional subjects, enhancing their value with technical results that could not have been achieved before.
The effect of a classical 2D representation of an optical painting can be introduced into 3D space and altered in order to visualize countless virtual aspects that would otherwise remain invisible.
In turn, these new representations can be manipulated and edited too in order to obtain images which abound with “liquid” sensations and surreal atmospheres, or even contaminated by photographic images, in a perfect blend of “fantasy and reality”.
Again, they can be combined with mosaics, by inserting the mosaic tiles into a completed painting.
This global and multidisciplinary art, relying on a variety of tools and techniques, enhances creativity by making it concrete and tangible, as written by Max Bill:
“The Abstract thought, invisible, becomes concrete, clear and in the end perceptible, even with sensations. Unknown spaces, almost unimaginable axioms take on form; one thinks in spaces which were previously unimaginable, and this familiarisation expands one's perception of additional spaces which are perhaps still unknown today”. (2)
Everything is dynamic and can be represented in an infinite number of different ways.
There is no absolute truth in the physical world.
Nothing is limited to the mere dimensions that can be perceived by our mind.
(1) Leonello Brizio 1975
(2) Max Bill “Mathematical thought in present-day art” 1949
