Works

Paintings

Sculptures

Anni '50 - '60
Anni '70 - '80
Anni 2000

Monumental sculpture

“The Sun Town” – 2013, Rozzano (Mi)

This sculpture “Città-sole” on which I have been thouroughly working on and following, detail after detail, for two years, has been placed in Netanya, in Israel, as an homage to my mentor, who sadly is not with us anymore. The city of Netanya has dedicated their large square in front of the sea, where my sculpture has been located, to my husband, by naming it “Beniamino Matalon”. Ideologically my sculptures are to be seen as islands at sun down, capable of making us forget the prisons of dull days, islands in which we can collect the insomniac stellar arcipelagus, insomniac as my nights, in which my mind floats towards the impossible oblivium.
My need to make sculpture started 38 to 40 years ago and is part of the three-dimensional aspect of my paintings of the 60’s and 70’s. Back then, my restlessness was looking for something that could break limits and find new dimensions. So I started to furiously attack the first dimension, the canavas/barrier, with cuts and rippings, to let the gesture and the light breakthrough and overpass it’s boundaries. I then divided the canvas in parts by using PVC combustions, and brought the material, soaked in acrilic colors, to it’s limits in order to obtain objects which could conqueror new spaces. I then realized that painting did not satisfy me anymore and sculpture become to me of the utmost importance. My intentions with sculpture were to capture the lightness, the wind and light, the tangled thoughts of our minds, the silences. Sculpture, though, needs material, it requires it. But material means weight, volume, concentration of space. So I attack it, I alter it, I open it, I break it. I practice glifi to search the carverns of the earth for traces of ancient alphabets, drowned in the wrinkles of time. Those are clefts that imprison remote memories, mysterious silences that release fulminating energies. Through these tears I let light and the changing sesons with their multiple colours, penetrate inside the sculpture and breath into shadows and projections, continoulsy diverse one for the other. I also build apses and castles which sit on impossible staircases that can be reached only by climbing steps of poetry.
I am a citizen of the world and I ask for continous changes, so I can feel like a charging battery ready to acknowledge different realities and to expose my mind to new confrontations and verifications. Painting and sculpture means to me a faithful abandonment to my desire to tell, with storming truthfullness and invention, my means are to flee, to confess, to be absolved, to be free to play with my thoughts. If I had to translate and explain the meanings of my signs, cuts, symbols, metaphors, allegories and so on, that are the whispered voice of my work, I would irreparably uncover it’s fascinating ambiguity.

Luciana Matalon

“The Sun Town” (lyrics by Luciana Matalon) – 2007, Netanya (Israel)

This Sculpture “Sun City”, which I worked on for about two years and which I exasperatedly followed, detail after detail, has been placed in Netanya, Israel, and is intended as a tribute to my husband, who sadly is no longer with us. A tribute to his desire to return to his ancient roots, after so many painful historical vicissitudes.

The city of Netanya dedicated the large square facing the sea, in which my sculpture “Sun City” was placed, to the name of my husband and therefore the square is called today “Beniamino Matalon Square”. Ideologically, my sculpture aims to be an evening island capable of making us forget the prisons of dull days and where we can gather stars of sleepless archipelagos, as sleepless as my nights adrift with impossible oblivions.

My need to do sculpture was born 38/40 years ago and practically starts from the three-dimensionality of my painting in the 60s/70s. At that time, my restlessness was looking for something different that represented breaking boundaries and finding new dimensions. So I began to rage on the first dimension, which was represented by the canvas/barrier, with cuts and tears, to allow the gesture and the light to go further, to cross a border, then with PVC combustions starting from the surface of the canvas, I exaggerated the material, soaked in acrylic colors until I obtained adjectives that wanted, in turn, to challenge new spaces. So, I realized that painting was no longer enough for me and that it was essential for me to also make sculptures. With sculpture, however, I would have liked to sculpt lightness, wind, light, the tangles of thought, silences, but sculpture wants matter, it demands it, and matter is weight, volume, the occupation of space. Then I attack this matter, I alter it, I open it, I split it.

I practice glyphs to search their caves for traces of ancient alphabets drowned in its wrinkles, in their wrinkles of time. Nooks and crannies that imprison remote memories, mysterious silences that blast liberating energies. Through these lacerations, I allow light and the seasons, with their many colors, to enter the sculpture and experience it in ever-changing shadows and projections. Then, always with poetic intent, I build apses and castles perched on impossible stairs, passable only on the steps of poetry.
As a citizen of the world, I need constant movement to feel like a battery under charge, to draw knowledge and expose my mind to constant comparison and verification. Painting and sculpture are for me a confident abandonment to the desire to tell in a dazed mixture of sincerity, invention, the desire to amaze, to confess myself, to absolve myself, to be free to play ball with thoughts, but, if I were to translate and explain the motivations of the signs, cuts, symbols, metaphors, allegories and so on, which are the subdued voice of my work, I would carry out a disastrous operation to unmask the fascinating ambiguity of their existence.

Luciana Matalon