Massimo Ragionieri
TRANSFORMATION OF TRUTH
Massimo Ragionieri is a romantic artist who reflects on nature and considers it the daughter not only of the earth, but also of pure beauty. He is alone in his research towards the “perfectable imperfection” reached by means of the traditional tool of his palette. In a world where chaos seems not to be so casual, Ragionieri is a solitary heavenly rider, armed with faith in his own professionalism. He keeps tight hold on his refined softness and his sense of colours, expressed with vividness and determination. The world of nature that him potrays is a solar, enchanted world. A rose of his is not simply a rose, but a sort of hypnosis that leans one towards a realization of the fragility of nature. If one considers, for example, his painting with orange petals resting on a snow-white sheet, one is struck by the chromatic transparence that leads the imagination to the fragility of hand-blown glass, in which the only solid material seems to be the light that strikes it. Ragionieri’s studies of light are bound in the tradition of Caravaggio’s experiments on luminosity, with the light always emanating from the subject itself and never coming in from the outside. In his works, mystery joins magic. Ragionieri is a virtuous pointer whose works are characterized by a certain “false” simplicity. He portrays a yellow rose whose stem is immersed in a glass of transparent water with petals that reflect their image, like a young maiden who ingenuosly looks at her own beauty in a mirror. Unlike American hyper-realist painters, Ragionieri doesn’t regard the surrounding world with cold objectivity. He doesn’t dedicate himself to the portrayal of urban landscapes, interpreted through the lens of useless, macroscopic details. To the contrary, Ragionieri focuses on the aesthetic and emotional impact of the subjects he portrays, nature infused by a certain sublime vivacity and a cromatic immediacy. He is clearly influenced by the maestri of the 17th century who praised nature as a precious trophy. His poetry does not deceive. It is pure experimentation that presents reality through a “photographic” lens, the result of an unconscious desire to not compete with “truth”, but to transfigure it through color. In Ragionieri’s works one can sense the temptation to observe “creations of nature” in 3-D; a flower, a piece of fruit that delicately fills the empty space of a canvas seems to represent a utopian struggle that invites the onlooker to regard the object with a certain pagan reverence. Ragionieri’s paganism is not idolatrous or sinful; it should be interpreted as an adoration of physical beauty that he strives to capture and lift up to higher levels. In each of his paintings that exists the same ritual without being repetitive. Ragionieri evokes mother nature in all her variety and vastness, full of forms, colors and suggestivity. Faithful to the sentiments of nature, Ragionieri is truly a virtuoso whose paintings sign hymns of beauty and enchant the observer.
TRANSFORMATION OF TRUTH
Massimo Ragionieri is a romantic artist who reflects on nature and considers it the daughter not only of the earth, but also of pure beauty. He is alone in his research towards the “perfectable imperfection” reached by means of the traditional tool of his palette. In a world where chaos seems not to be so casual, Ragionieri is a solitary heavenly rider, armed with faith in his own professionalism. He keeps tight hold on his refined softness and his sense of colours, expressed with vividness and determination. The world of nature that him potrays is a solar, enchanted world. A rose of his is not simply a rose, but a sort of hypnosis that leans one towards a realization of the fragility of nature. If one considers, for example, his painting with orange petals resting on a snow-white sheet, one is struck by the chromatic transparence that leads the imagination to the fragility of hand-blown glass, in which the only solid material seems to be the light that strikes it. Ragionieri’s studies of light are bound in the tradition of Caravaggio’s experiments on luminosity, with the light always emanating from the subject itself and never coming in from the outside. In his works, mystery joins magic. Ragionieri is a virtuous pointer whose works are characterized by a certain “false” simplicity. He portrays a yellow rose whose stem is immersed in a glass of transparent water with petals that reflect their image, like a young maiden who ingenuosly looks at her own beauty in a mirror. Unlike American hyper-realist painters, Ragionieri doesn’t regard the surrounding world with cold objectivity. He doesn’t dedicate himself to the portrayal of urban landscapes, interpreted through the lens of useless, macroscopic details. To the contrary, Ragionieri focuses on the aesthetic and emotional impact of the subjects he portrays, nature infused by a certain sublime vivacity and a cromatic immediacy. He is clearly influenced by the maestri of the 17th century who praised nature as a precious trophy. His poetry does not deceive. It is pure experimentation that presents reality through a “photographic” lens, the result of an unconscious desire to not compete with “truth”, but to transfigure it through color. In Ragionieri’s works one can sense the temptation to observe “creations of nature” in 3-D; a flower, a piece of fruit that delicately fills the empty space of a canvas seems to represent a utopian struggle that invites the onlooker to regard the object with a certain pagan reverence. Ragionieri’s paganism is not idolatrous or sinful; it should be interpreted as an adoration of physical beauty that he strives to capture and lift up to higher levels. In each of his paintings that exists the same ritual without being repetitive. Ragionieri evokes mother nature in all her variety and vastness, full of forms, colors and suggestivity. Faithful to the sentiments of nature, Ragionieri is truly a virtuoso whose paintings sign hymns of beauty and enchant the observer.
