Text for the Opening of Elisabetta Bacci's exhibition Existential Perception of Colour

Elisabetta Bacci,the Italian artist Lucida Gallerypresents today, was born in Triesteand lived in Venice, London, New York and Genoa. She studied visual arts at the Ligustica di Belle Arti Academy in Genoa and art history at the Universitàdegli Studi in Trieste. She creates and exhibits in Italy and abroad.

On this occasion, Lucida Gallery presents the works from three of Elisabetta Bacci's cycles – Piers, Tebah and Fracture. Allthe artworks characterize an expressive colouring and division of the square image format into two equal horizontally set fields of different colours applied by the visible gestural strokes of the painting brush.

In the artworks of the first cycle Piers,these painted fields openly alluded to the earth/sea and the sky; in the centre of the image base is a trapezoid (pier) that almost reaches the dividing line of the colourfields, the horizon, but does not touch it; In subsequent worksfrom the cycle Tebah, horizontally placed dyed surfaces continue to retain allusion to the horizon, although the artist colourably treatsthese fields as an autonomous set. In the centre of the image, instead of the trapezoid, there is a slightly defocused golden rectangle (tebah, i.e. Noah's Ark and the basket in which the mother laid down little Moses and put it in the Nile; in both these referencesfrom the Old Testament, tebah is a symbol of salvation).

In the latest cycle Fracture,that at first glance resembles Barnett Newman's zip paintings,the colour of horizontalfields is not so bright anymore and, in the centre of the canvas, there is a thin vertical line (fracture) extending between the upper and lower edge of the painting.

Thefundamental elements of allthe compositions are colour and geometrization reflected in the strict division of the canvas and regular geometric shapes (the equilibriumtrapezoid – pier, the rectangle –tebah and the straight line– fracture). Both elements force us to explore the deeper conceptual levels of Elisabeth Bacci's artwork. The development of her artistic expression goes towards reducingthe surface of the central display, i.e.the focus of the composition,but also towards the intensification of its visual and contemplative effect on the viewer.

Although there is a foothold in Colour Field painting, the art of Elisabetta Bacci is much different fromthis artistic style – she treats the canvas surface as a visual field with a central focus; although she emphasizes the flat surface of the image, the artist alludes to thehorizon, and therefore the depth, or perspective; she includes objects (although exceedingly reduced) from the real/mythicalworld. In addition to these formal ones, there is an essentialdifferencebetween the Colour Field painting and thepainting of Elisabetta Bacci – her paintings do not represent an emotional but a cognitive artistic expression. Her works are not only singular, asthe artist treatseach of them as a part of the installation of a more sizeable contemplative puzzle; the paintings are also individual works that become mediator road signs leading and directingus towards a metaphysical experience, indicatingnew spiritual areas.

Elisabetta Bacci'spaintingsare grounded in contemplation, one of the Colour Field painting legacies;they represent the places of events of deep, personal introspections – the colour fieldsare spaces in which we come into contact with something particular and timeless,with a scary feeling of freedom of thought which, in the end, after turbulent spiritual changes, results in stability and balance.

Elisabetta Bacci'spaintingshave meditative characters aspiringus from within and inspiring us to think about the fundamental, ontological issues of human existence – who are we, whydo we exist, where are we heading, what should we strive for, what is our purpose? The mindful horizons of her works, asthe landscapes of our inner being, point usto the quest for the absolute,towards the truth that we can never reach, but also to the importance of pursuing on the way to getting closer.

Ivona Fregl, art historian