NUOVO RINASCIMENTO Francais Italiano

exposition au Centre Leonardo da Vinci 2022

By Luca Sinescalco

CRITICAL TEXT A visionary artist, Natalia Jacquounain brings together a vast multiplicity of artistic references in her creations. Shining through in her works, in particular, are three fundamental currents of twentieth-century art: cubism, expressionism and surrealism. The lesson of Cubism emerges above all in the geometric resolution of spatial forms and certain compositional details; the Expressionist tradition, on the other hand, shows itself in the intensity of the human figures depicted, of which it is the emotional side, rather than the descriptive mimesis, that is the object of study; finally, the Surrealist magisterium increases in intensity the impalpable dreamlike atmosphere that pervades the canvases.

The artist's latest reflections are closely linked to the - very topical - theme of the ecological challenge. The symbiosis between microcosm and macrocosm, the spiritual and metaphysical character inscribed in the immanent and biological dimension of nature, transpire in his most recent works, among which is the "Étoile du diable," a representation of the enigmatic dimension rooted in the cosmic dimension.
To the "flight of the gods," Jacquounain opposes the force of remythization - art rises to the symbolic union (a thesis, this one, already romantic) of nature and culture: shining through is the power of a cosmocentrism (or cosmoteandrism, to use Raimon Panikkar's expression) on which to base a new aesthetic.