Work sheet
Technical data
| year | 2023 |
| purchase date | acquired in the portfolio |
| estimated current value in € | consult the updated Price Table |
| identification of the subject | abstract painting/reconstructivist work |
| materials and techniques | oil on canvas/mixed media/material work |
| measurements in centimeters cm | 60 x 80 x 1,8 |
| inscriptions | signature |
| inscription technique | oil |
| inscription position | on the back/bottom/right |
| transcription | Valvo |
| authenticity certificate | issued at the same time as the sale |
| art multiples | no print issued |
| state of conservation | intact work |
| location of the work | Rome · Italy |
| copyright | © all rights reserved · global · S.I.A.E. |
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Description of work
Every Path
Sand.
Rock.
Dust and sediment.
This painting is an authentic mineral work.
A work that seems to have emerged on the surface directly from the silent and arid desert depths of the Djurab.
In the upper half of the canvas a large writing in Arabic appears in black:
كل طريق
(kulu tariq)
or: “Every Path”, hence the title of the painting.
The path is the archetype of the human journey.
Therefore, every path leads to God.
The theme of the road, of the path, is therefore the key principle on which this particular pictorial work revolves and develops entirely.
The work exudes cultic religiosity. It is densely imbued with spirituality. Imbued with respectful devotion to divinity.
Black and material stripes surround the two sides and the upper end of the canvas. A white stripe rises from the bottom, on the right side, almost joining the large horizontal white rectangle that forms the background to the inscription at the top. This linearity seems to graphically suggest the very concept of “path”.
Symmetrical to the upper inscription is the one in the lower part of the work, chromatically inverted compared to the first:
وحي
(wahy)
or: “Revelation”.
A circular figure in gray is next to and above its quadrangular counterpart, below it. The circle, a symbol of achieved perfection and concomitant with the stripe described above, would seem to indicate the de facto achievement of a superior evolutionary-spiritual condition. The goal that belongs to the one who is preparing for the journey towards divinity.
At the upper end of the canvas we find a second circular figure, also in grey, towards which, on the right, a stylized serpentine element tends. The serpentine is also present in the upper left corner of the canvas. The “X”, a very recurring element in Valvo, stands out at the top right and interferes with a rectangular, white and shaded background of colour, present in the upper rib and, therefore, peripheral to the pictorial area. The combination of these two elements: the “X”, in conjunction with the white stripe, outlined in white and, therefore, well visually circumscribed, would seem to indicate the very concept of “losing your way”, “losing your road”.
In other words: “There is no possible path other than the one that leads to God”. That is, precisely: “There cannot be any peripheral deviation or intersection, distancing or abandonment from the only possible path: the one towards the truth.”
An underlying white background, similar to that which forms the background of the upper inscription, loses its original connotation as a background, with relation to the second lower inscription, which dynamically slides towards the center of the work. Almost attracted by an irresistible magnetism.
Finally, two key elements appear in the central area of the canvas: a black and square material encrustation together with a white background, also quadrangular and flat, circumscribed by a white outline. The first is a very clear reference to:
الكعبة
(al-Ka‛ba)
that is, the small black brick building, cubic in shape, located in the center of the sacred enclosure of Mecca and containing the Sacred Black Stone of the Islamic ritual pilgrimage. The second background seems to make a clear reference to the ideal figure of the faithful Muslim, who has now reached his destination. This color background seems to find its logical dynamic completion within the black material quadrature, in which a white and empty square appears, almost awaiting the arrival of the one who is on the journey. A small white dot, with a barely visible shade, appears inside the black encrustation, near the empty white square contained within it.
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