Text for the works exhibited in the Eikòn Collective, the Ways of Portrait "Santa Lucia" "Fireflies Never Leave" "Eikòn"

EIKÒN THE WAYS OF PORTRAIT
Stefano Garbuglia's works are based on a careful bibliographic and iconographic reconstruction of historical and anthropological sources. We are therefore dealing with an artist who does not propose an exclusively decorative aims, but tends to offer images that are expertly conceived and designed, in which each element is not random, but corresponds exactly to objective data, whose historical truth is indisputable. A first example of this philological rigor is the work Santa Lucia which, according to what the artist explains in a note, "reinterprets the martyrdom of the saint by tracing the classical iconography, despite being dressed only in the veil of Christian passion". Fidelity to the hagiographic sources, therefore, but at the same time a courageous evasion of traditional iconography, showing the virgin martyr in the splendor of her naked body which remained chaste and inviolate, despite the threats of the Prefect Pascasio to have her taken to a brothel. The desire to get out of the mere two-dimensional representation is instead manifested in the pierced canvas in correspondence with the stab infixed by the executioner in Lucia's throat (iugulatio). Thus, according to the artist, a dialogue is generated between the painting and its support, which participate in the narration of martyrdom. Another example is represented by Fireflies Never Leave (The fireflies never leave), in which Garbuglia refers to a folkloric tradition of central-west Africa, according to which, the author informs us, a vampire named Adze , which prowls in the guise of a firefly, regains human form when caught. Equally rigorous, in Eikòn, is the reference to iconoclastic instances, tending to oppose religious worship and the use of sacred images, which manifested themselves in the Eastern Empire between the eighth and ninth centuries. In this work, as the artist suggests, «the haloed figure appears disfigured by a violent iconoclastic act and is represented intent on grasping the nature of the damage directed towards her own face, which appears hollowed out and disfigured in a depersonalizing fury». At the same time, however, continues Garbuglia, "the delicate gesture of the hands, and the lithe attitude of the body, betray a subtle eroticism, casting the shadow of ambiguous satisfaction". Sacred and profane, therefore, coexist within the same figure, to underline the ambiguity, plurivocity and polysemy of each image. Also for this reason the work was chosen as the logo for this exhibition, which essentially aims to reflect on the possible values ​​of any representation of the human figure.

Cosimo Strazzeri
(School Headmaster and Art Critic)

Text for the winning work of the fourth edition of the Michele Cea Prize "Luca 23:34"

CONTEMPORARY MARTYRS
Beyond all political and religious beliefs, without distinction of race, Stefano Garbuglia's work is a manifesto of destinies and misfortunes. The visual image becomes sound in that emergency whistle of life jackets hanging on the nail of martyrdom. The picture, a magnetic field of lives lost and found, tragic in the lucid and detailed oil painting, is illuminated by a supernatural light, a spotlight that lights up the current news in the heart of the beholder. The boundary between life and death, between salvation and eternal damnation, between memory and oblivion thus travels on the emotional waves of an upset universe. The thought of Pablo Picasso comes to mind who during the dark period of the Second World War defined the value of being an artist in this way: «What do you think an artist is! An imbecile who has only eyes if he is a painter, only ears if he is a musician and if he is a poet a lyre at all levels of his heart? On the contrary, he is at the same time a political being, constantly vigilant in the face of the heartrending, ardent or sweet events of the world, modeling himself completely in their image. How would it be possible to be disinterested in other men? And by virtue of what ivory indifference would one detach oneself from a life that men themselves give so generously? No, painting is not meant to decorate apartments, it is an offensive and defensive tool of war against the enemy». Yes... How would it be possible to be disinterested in other men? Stefano raises his voice, demands that the observer come closer, listen to that passage from Luke "Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they are doing" and think, think deeply, reacquiring a critical conscience that now seemed lost among the waves of Erebus .

Massimiliano Porro
(Professor of Art History)