Pino Deodato. New projects between Italy and China

In the art of Pino Deodato we can find all the existential experience of the human being: his terracotta men are facing themes as Philosophy, Ethics, Spirituality and maybe this is the reason why one of the most interesting exhibitions in which the artist took part on the last year was Raccontarsi sotto le stelle – Natale Addamiano & Pino Deodato, at Villa Vertua Masolo (Nova Milanese) from 28 April to 17 May 2019, curated by Matteo Galbiati and Antonio Lombardo, where Deodato’s sculptures have dialogued with the starry canvases of Natale Addamiano.

Painting and sculpture: two different approach, two different points of view, but the same desire for understanding the essence of living, finding in Art the privileged medium to comprehend and perceive its true meaning.

Sky and stars, since the dawn of time, are the guardians of human thoughts, wishes and fears: we try to find answers looking at them, accepting our finiteness and searching for something more coming from the deep immensity of the celestial sphere.

The exhibition shows how the two artists Natale Addamiano and Pino Deodato, have found a unique and personal way to represent the “thinking men”, through a representation sometimes metaphoric (like the Addamiano’s starry skies, dark blue, but even pink, green and purple) sometimes surrealist but quite literal (like Deodato’s Chiodo fisso).

Under the Addamiano’s stars live the men of Deodato, wandering in their own thoughts and inviting the spectators to take a moment of pure silence and existential reflection, reflecting about things they are not usual to.

Pino Deodato (b. 1950, Nao, Vibo Valentia) moved to Milan in 1969, where he attended Brera Academy and came into contact with some exponents of Milanese art, becoming the assistant to Giangiacomo Spadari. Subsequently he came to know the French artistic environment: this was the 70s, a time when culture went hand in hand with political and social events; Deodato developed his artistic creations around these actions, which he then exhibited in Italy and abroad.

From the 90s Deodato's artistic expression has been characterized by magic realism, that finds inspiration in the channels of his memory, giving rise to authentic metaphors of life. This path has continued into the new millennium: Deodato, humanist and alchemist of the image, always moving between sculpture and painting, continues to narrate the history of mankind with a stern and kind, sharp and poetic look, open to marvellous and fantastic.

These characteristics made artist perfect to be selected for a brand-new artistic project in China, announced by the Gansu Cultural Industry Development Group.

Art has always been a way to narrate the habits, traditions and beliefs of the humanity: that is why, since the prehistoric times, men and women felt the need to express themselves portraying the world they experience; we have multiple examples, such as Lascaux Cave, Cave of Altamira and the amazing Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes (China), UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.

Near the Silk Road, close to Dunhuang, these caves are the scenography for an international exhibition with artworks created taking inspiration from the wall paintings in the Gansu province; the Studio AL14 (Milan) was commissioned by the Department of Culture of the Province of Gansu to select Italian artists to create new works inspired by the world-famous Mogao Caves.

The Grottoes are world-renowned for their circa 452084 ft2 of wall paintings, along with stucco sculpture, silk paintings, calligraphy, woodblock printing, embroidery, literature that cover more than ten major art genres, containing some of the finest examples of Buddhist art, spanning a period of 1,000 years.

The suspended narration of Pino Deodato, which permits us to grasp the thoughts that crowd the terracotta characters’ mind, but not to totally understand them, takes inspiration from the Chinese caves for a new production, specifically realised for this project: like in the series “The story of the nine-colour deer”, referring to the mural in Mogao Cave number 257, where the original story is based on the Buddhist Jataka tale of the same name is painted.

Another example is the chiselled Buddha part of the series “Seeking”, technically similar to “Ricamare” – exhibited at Villa Vertua Masolo – that seems to be related to the South Wall of Main Chamber in Cave number 057, where Maitreya (the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology) is surrounded by the thousand Buddha motifs.