An exhibition by Mariella Crosio entitled ‘L’Umanita Velata’ opens this Saturday, the 2nd of July, at the Cittadella Art Centre for Culture & Arts, Cittadella, Victoria, Gozo.

Mariella Crosio, is an accomplished and internationally acclaimed artist who was born in Turin, Italy in 1957, where the artist grew up and graduated in English Language and Literature before moving to the United States to further her Art studies.

At the Art Students’ League in New York, Crosio attended Sydney Simon’s sculpture classes. This study is evident in the decorative 3D effect semi-abstracts.

‘The outer surface of (the artists’) inner talent’ and soul are able to penetrate genuinely through the paint layers only when this ‘soul’ is nurtured and lovingly educated, Kandinsky insists in his book Concerning the Spiritual in Art. Crosio has pursued this study of psychology and philosophy of art as well as its symbolism.

An anthropological presence also expresses hints of features and figures veiled, yet visible, from below the selected surface. Many of the works exhibited at Opus Gallerie 64 display these varied techniques and textures employed by Crosio and bear testimony to her further art methodology studies in Turin and Venice ateliers. Besides the use of oil and acrylic in her painting, Crosio also enjoys zinc etching and wood engraving.

Viewers in the Gallerie are credited by Crosio with the intelligence to make up their own minds on the symbolism emanating from the paintings. Are ‘the eyes’ being observed or are they watching? Are the beings about to penetrate the surface or do they enjoy being silent witnesses backstage?

Art patrons and owners of Mariella Crosio’s art are invited to question alone, as well as in the company of others. Titles also are left to the onlooker’s imagination a. Each artwork renews itself as different reflections appear on the shapes, colours and symbolism. Dr. Busetti at the exhibition of Crosio’s work at the Instituto di Cultura in Valletta last March, noted that visitors wondered whether these women vied for attention with their expressions or whether they were all-knowing wise eyes. This subtlety allows the observer to participate actively in the artwork.

Mariella Crosio’s replies to some existential and artistic questions are included here.

Q) “What is it that you love about the human figure or life study?”

A) “I used to paint and draw the human figure for a long time, but my preference has always gone to the tracts that affect a deep interpretation of the individual, that is to say, faces, eyes, posture of the body in a given scene. In a sort of evolution, the human figure in my artwork lost most of its details and became more symbolic. It remained as a constant presence but not so imposing in the whole structure. Eyes, in my last works (Humanity Veiled) are just there to mean that humanity is present but is not the centre of the scene, it has to be searched, by the observer, and the eyes are the only faded remains that attest to the human presence.”

“The level of reality has passed through stages; from a very personal environment related to the everyday life of the human being to a social context where humans have expanded into a total vision embracing ‘the one’ which should be the final path.”

Q) “What do you think puts the barriers between us?”

“Well the boundary is this preoccupation with myself only. This encloses us and makes boundaries and difficult relationships.”

Q) “You illustrate in your art how these beings could belong to any culture or space. There is a fluidity and ease rather than an emphasized otherness. Philosophy and psychology say that we could see the other as the same as our self if we let go of our egoistic preoccupations and neurosis. What do you think? Perhaps you have answers from your own experience of life. What is that and how do you convey this in your work?”

“My vision that has been developed over the years of thinking and studies in the fields you mentioned as well as a few years of cooperation with the late Dr Silvia Montefoschi (A friend and a Jungian analyst) has brought me to a conviction that relations are essential in our society; my reflection goes beyond, overcoming the boundaries and with a quantum leap of thought we can connect with the questions and answers that humanity consider – the fear of dying, sense of the sacred, the idea of God, seen as the supreme being or concept, as religion or mythology (not intended as a dogma) and the question of love (in a wide sense, as mystic not material).”

“I work only when I am inspired and moved by a deep and strong feeling. I have the technical and experimental competence to adapt according to the idea or media and my original intention of expression so that it is not just a happy accident but an operad’arte like any poem or piece of music. It becomes the dynamic of an entire life, the result of previous thought and constant reflection – not predictable; providing the only acceptable proof of validity,that is ‘the truth’ – the authentic performance.”

Catherine Sinclaire Galea.

The exhibition is open until the 24th of July. For more information contact Amina Contin 99193417; email amina_contin@libero.it.

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