Paolo Parisi

On Loop: Structuring Imperfect to perfect (RGB), 2020
Video, sound, 6’00”
© Paolo Parisi

The experience of art as a cognitive practice and the variation of perception linked to changing points of view are the fundamental aspects in Paolo Parisi’s research.
The video On Loop: Structuring Imperfect to perfect (RGB) associates the audio-visual re-elaboration of archive material relating to three of Parisi’s works, with the following works by Staccioli:
– Cerchio Imperfetto(2011): a red square with curved sides, 10 m tall, which redesigns the edges of the Forum and the piazza of the ancient Minervia Scolacium in Catanzaro.
– Trinacria (1993): a space inside Fiumara d’Arte (Castel di Tusa, Messina), dominated by triangular forms that recall the shape of Sicily.
– Uguale e contrario (2004): a concrete semi-arch that seems to twist round itself, positioned as a buttress at the bottom of Galleria Il Ponte in Florence.
These works by Staccioli transform their ‘standard’ geometrical form by subjecting it to the observer’s own perception and the contingency of space. They create a gap between Plato’s ideal of perfection and its implementation, like the three interventions by Parisi has reproduced in the video, which propose a similar subjective and changing dimension of the artistic experience.

“Some forms of crystals existing in nature, which display an imperfect molecular structure, alter if subjected to experimental processes, tending towards what the scientist (therefore, the human being) defines as perfection. The work of art, instead, is the manifestation of an approach more than a statement. Therefore, it’s a process, a procedure, an infinite possibility of re-elaboration and dialogue for a matter prone to continual change which upsets the problem of the human search for perfection. It strives towards a potentially infinite epiphany – or sound (On Loop).
The work is the audio-visual re-elaboration of archive material which I try to make dialogue with three of Mauro Staccioli’s works:  Cerchio Imperfetto, Trinacria and Uguale Contrario.
The archive material refers to, respectively: Il problema della condivisione dello spazio disponibile in architettura e rispetto al colore del paesaggio. …e il pulviscolo atmosferico, 2009 (where the imperfect circle becomes the landscape and therefore the globe, associated with the green in the acronym RGB); Commonplace (Unitè d’habitation), 2011, made in Catania, with the sound of musician AKA Massimo who held a live concert in the tones of blue (B) on the opening night; and Il problema della condivisione dello spazio disponibile in architettura e rispetto al colore della pittura. …e il pulviscolo atmosferico (Sinfonia), 2011, made for the Chiostro dello Scalzo in Florence, using all the shades of RAL between red and violet (R), for the exhibition ‘Alla Maniera d’oggi’, whose documentary video I re-edited and inverted, bringing a new, possible symphony to life.
The acronym RBG, along with the use of the font OCR-A (1968) for the titles, tells of the obsession with creating standards that can be shared by a computer and the human eye at the same time”(Paolo Parisi)

Paolo Parisi (Catania, 1965) lives and works in Florence.
He has held solo exhibitions at important institutions including: Museo Novecento, Florence; RISO, Palermo; Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato; Galleria Enrico Astuni, Bologna; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich; Quarter / Centroproduzione Arte, Florence; Nicola Fornello, Prato; Galleria Neon, Bologna; Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Castel San Pietro Terme; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Palazzo Fichera, Catania and Verein allerArt, Bludenz.
He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Italy and abroad and his works, on show regularly since 1994, are now present in the collections of numerous institutions, including: Museo Novecento, Florence; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato; Cantiere d’arte Alberto Moretti, Carmignano; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich; Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania; Città della Scienza, Catania and Museo d’arte contemporanea della Sicilia, Palazzo Riso, Palermo.
Website: www.paoloparisi.net

in dialogue with Mauro Staccioli, Cerchio Imperfetto, Catanzaro.

Photo by A. Renda