Interview – Painting “Liberté Égalité Fraternité”
The Curator Dr. Maria Morello interviews the artist about his painting “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.”
Dr. Morello: Each time chooses and rebuilds its own past. And it is as if new eyes, new sensitivities, settling on things would return unknown dimensions and values. So the past is full of future; minds disappear, only things remain, such as the works of art. Dr. Pietròpoli, can you tell us please what is the meaning that your painting “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” wants to express? I know that some time ago it was selected and displayed in London among the finalists of an international art prize.
Dr. Pietròpoli : The foreground figure is proposed to represent the emblematic icon of the “King-leader” of the “Magna Europe” - where a distinction existed between civil and religious authorities - with reference to the political and spiritual leaders of our time. In particular, it seeks to nourish this contemporary perspective by placing as a centre of gravity of the individual’s personality, more than the right, the duty of men. This is fully expressed through a sense of responsibility and participation achieved - in the awareness of a role-oriented research of the Common Good - by approaching the ideal of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, in line with to the original meaning of the motto which titles the painting. Really the idea of command, expressed in this sort of “armor” that covers the “King-leader”, seems to be meant to evoke the need of a “welding” between the exercise of political power and the guide function of a superior ethics which is able to place him in harmony with the social dimension that belongs to him.
Dr. Morello : Can you also tell us, dr. Pietròpoli, why you decided to take this particular choice of the green colour?
Dr. Pietròpoli : As you noticed, not surprisingly the colour green dominates the canvas, to remind the concept that human beings have equal dignity as children of the same Earth, albeit with differences to be recognized - as it appears inadequate to treat equally unequal realities - that is why it is a material Green as well.
Dr. Morello : I am interested to know if there is a reason why you chose to represent this figure not in all its wholeness…
Dr. Pietròpoli : On a personal level, I conceived in my abstract mind the beauty that you could hide in a so partial face, even if the soul seems to have no face in an almost unspeakable way... Actually it reveals itself when communicating an emotion, when it appeals to the potential partner that lies in us. Thus, this image opens a long and never-ending dialogue with myself: this incompleteness of the figure is in fact a sign of the incompleteness of my life and my destiny; no power, no greatness are really such as to break the course of time and win our end.
London, May 9th, 2018