THE INTROSPECTION OF THE OUTSIDE - 2001

"BIBLIOTECA STATALE ISONTINA" - GORIZIA

CRITICAL PRESENCE: CRISTINA FERESIN

Our mind assimilates, encodes, assesses, reassembles and puts again into circulation. As it works in this way, it develops and expands, taking part and interacting in the evolution of the external structure. This is what an active mind does.
And what does a passive mind do?

A passive mind absorbs and sends out its product without processing it. A passive mind usually possesses the truth; the more limited its sphere of action, the wider its truth. A passive mind lives on itself, is subjected to the established structure and encodes it as something immovable. A passive mind is constantly concerned about standardising to its yardstick everything it manages to deal with, otherwise doubt might arise and undermine its dogmatic certainty. If this happened, its neuronal movement would become too intense and imply commitment and hard work.
So, what does the artist do?

The artist uses (or at least should use) his talent in the only way it cannot turn against him. Being an artist means just this. The artist places himself at the margins and, moving along, explores the lines; he takes hold of them but does not belong to them. The artist scans the objective, breaks it up and processes it; then he blends the objective with the subjective, makes these two elements communicate (sometimes on a thin, sharp blade) and sends the deflected lines to the structure.

Fulvio Tomasi, 10 th September 2001

The strokes run thick and uninterrupted, framing imaginative landscapes and unknown worlds. Human, animal and vegetable components are assembled in a flurry of shapes, calling to mind distant tales and folk legends. Alarming and almost menacing staring eyes and gaping mouths emerge from the backgrounds, which are so minutely planned, almost Baroque, that they stun and charm at the same time. Fulvio Tomasi's etchings are a continuous narration, a never-ending story, even when they are made up of a single figure. Above all, they open out a universe that goes beyond human understanding. It's a mental game: it is fed by the imagination and plays on the most hidden pulsions, the usual nightmares that touch us day by day. We feel attraction and rejection at the same time, but we are also seduced by these images, so refined and strongly connotated with a persistent and emphasized stroke. We are also charmed by the refinement of the compositional framework, which becomes the bearer of more or less explicit messages in all works. Tomasi has a peculiar bent for animals and for the countless possibilities that their faces and bodies can allow as they undergo a transformation. Indeed, ordinary living creatures become superhuman beings, almost endowed with special powers. Sometimes, their expressions grow harder till their features come to mould hideous faces. Other times, their expressions highlight the most delicate and "human" side of these animals, which come to inspire a liking, thanks to their ironic and amusing glance. Tomasi's works do not lack masks or elves, kings or princesses, but these are no longer part of an enchanted world. They are the main characters of visionary and hallucinating adventures. His fantasy, along with his vivid imagination, and his skills in the elaboration and in the execution of his works are his strong points. In his continuous and constant introspection he finds the fixed points of his art.

Cristina Feresin - November, 2001