Each of these three artists are very different, both in the language they use in their art and in their very different ages, yet all share similar preoccupations. None of them are making any political, economic, or social declarations but rather they are united in a metaphysical search for meaning both deep within us and beyond us in the unfathomable universe.
The eldest of the three is the artist Riccardo Guarneri. His finely wrought and refined artworks are realised with the simplest of materials; pencils, coloured crayons, rulers, rubbers etc. Essentially no different from those that young children utilise when they take their first steps into art. The titles are a literal description of the apparent contents of the works. However, the apparent prosaicness of the titles is a very powerful spiritual force. The works exude a sense of tranquillity and peacefulness and are an invitation for us to reflect on our inner being but also the wider universe beyond our world. Last year, Guarneri suffered a serious health problem which, thankfully, he has fully overcome, yet this led to a change in his latest works where there is a palpable sense of things disappearing into pure empty space. However, there is no drama, merely a reinforced sense of gradual peace. In a very different language, fifty years earlier, the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi created a similar effect in the mind of the viewer. Both artists’ works share an apparent simplicity and purity which invite us to a profound meditation.