ENRICO MAGNANI

ITA

SUPERNOVA

 Selected Artworks

The Supernova pictorial cycle summarizes and conciliates the duality of science and mysticism ever present in Magnani's entire artistic production. The artist wants to bring attention to the phenomenon and consequences of these huge nuclear explosions that characterize the end of a star's life: the Supernova. All the material released by the explosion is at the origin of the formation of new stars. The supernova thus poses as a symbol of death and rebirth, and cyclicity of the universe. In these spectacular cosmic events the elements heavier than iron are formed, through which life, as we know it, is possible. That is why we can say that Supernova has a meaning that goes well beyond astronomy. In these works, the perfection of the geometric lines of the triangle, the circle, and the cross dialogues with the chaos of color explosions, creating a balance between order and disorder. These geometries are part of the cultural and spiritual patrimony of the human kind, of that essence that, retrieving Plato, transcends matter existing only in the world of ideas. Remembering that everything is in everything, Supernova unites macrocosm to microcosm, universe to man, science to mysticism. A hymn to life, its complexity, and its magic.

   The technique

The artist exploits the effects of fluid-dynamics without touching the work with his hands, or with brushes, or with other instruments; every phase of the creation takes place at a distance. The multi-layer paper and aluminum panel lies submerged horizontally under a film of water. Operating from the center and employing the centrifugal force, jets of water and air move the pigments previously dropped by the artist on the support. This original technique is inspired by and attempts to reproduce, with all the limits of the case, the dynamics of the stellar explosion: the work thus created is very similar to the images captured through large telescopes.