Lorenzo Canova’s essay frames Sergio Vacchi’s work as a visionary system constructed through layered historical, symbolic, and psychological references. From his informal beginnings in the 1950s to the later development of “synchronic worlds,” Vacchi employs deformation, unsettling architectures, and metaphysical luminosity to explore myth, the sacred, and the unconscious. His engagement with artists such as Michelangelo, Goya, Böcklin, Dix, and especially de Chirico results in processes of assimilation rather than citation. During the 1970s and 1980s—particularly in the Nekyia Rooms and imaginary portraits—Vacchi formulates a “necromantic” iconography grounded in apparitions, doubles, and ritualized imagery, anticipating visual modes characteristic of contemporary cinema and digital media. In his final melancholic cycles, painting becomes a site of revelation, mediating between the human and the transcendent.
Il saggio di Lorenzo Canova interpreta l’opera di Sergio Vacchi come un complesso sistema visionario fondato sulla stratificazione di riferimenti storico-artistici, simbolici e psichici. Dalle origini informali degli anni Cinquanta alla costruzione di “mondi sincronici” negli anni successivi, Vacchi elabora una pittura che attraversa mito, sacro e inconscio mediante forme deformate, architetture perturbanti e atmosfere luministiche di matrice metafisica. Il dialogo con maestri quali Michelangelo, Goya, Böcklin, Dix e soprattutto de Chirico genera un processo di assimilazione piuttosto che di citazione. Negli anni Settanta e Ottanta, attraverso i cicli delle Stanze della Nekyia e i ritratti immaginari, l’artista sviluppa una grammatica iconica “necromantica” centrata su apparizioni, doppi e ritualità, anticipando sensibilità visive contemporanee (cinema, serie, videogame). Nei cicli finali, dominati dalla melancholia, Vacchi articola una meditazione sulla soglia tra umano e trascendente, configurando la pittura come dispositivo di rivelazione e trasformazione.
Sergio Vacchi nel Regno delle Ombre. Sergio Vacchi in Shadowland
lorenzo canova
2025-01-01
Abstract
Lorenzo Canova’s essay frames Sergio Vacchi’s work as a visionary system constructed through layered historical, symbolic, and psychological references. From his informal beginnings in the 1950s to the later development of “synchronic worlds,” Vacchi employs deformation, unsettling architectures, and metaphysical luminosity to explore myth, the sacred, and the unconscious. His engagement with artists such as Michelangelo, Goya, Böcklin, Dix, and especially de Chirico results in processes of assimilation rather than citation. During the 1970s and 1980s—particularly in the Nekyia Rooms and imaginary portraits—Vacchi formulates a “necromantic” iconography grounded in apparitions, doubles, and ritualized imagery, anticipating visual modes characteristic of contemporary cinema and digital media. In his final melancholic cycles, painting becomes a site of revelation, mediating between the human and the transcendent.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
