© All rights reserved 2023
REVERSIBLE WATERCOLOR®
by Giorgia Vitale
What is reversible watercolor®?
In May 2023, the artist began to experiment with a painting style, discovering the possibility of creating, within a single painting, a reflection of the same with an opposite meaning. The reversibility of the work thus also translates into a conceptual reversibility.
Through this technique, the artist addresses some of the great dual concepts of human existence: the rationality of feeling is contrasted with the irrationality of emotions; the unconscious with the conscious; the sunlight with the shadow of night; the joy of dancing with the fatigue of burden; the projection toward adulthood with the regret of youth; joy with sadness; the lightness of youth with the fatigue of the weight of years.
Each painting is equipped on the back with two anchoring hooks, which allow it to be hung from either side, according to the free choice of the observer. The work is also accompanied by two titles or captions, one for each side.
The primary goal of Art remains the dissemination of Beauty. Those who create Beauty can freely interpret it, and in the visual arts this happens through the use of color and forms. From this perspective, I wanted to translate onto paper the idea that everything that is in man and around man can be observed from multiple perspectives. The observer's gaze, in fact, modifies the interpretation of the painting: depending on the point of view adopted, the reading changes, revealing its opposite poles and the
richness of its meanings.
Purpose of the Reversible Watercolor®
To break the rules of traditional watercolor, playing with the concept of symmetry and offering the observer the possibility of not being just a passive user of the work, but an active part of their experience. Through the possibility of physically flipping the painting, the observer becomes the protagonist of the enjoyment, making the work dynamic and potentially in motion.
To give life to a new strand of "conceptual-dynamic-philosophical" watercolor, capable of exploring fundamental themes of existence: love, the meaning of life, balance and well-being, the passage of time, lightness and heaviness, elements of psychology and sociology, but also aspects related to the natural world.
In the figure:
On the left: "Succumbing to the world"
On the right: "Dancing on the world"
- At the top: "The calm after the storm"
- At the bottom: "Sky in storm"
- At the top: "Seascape, clear sky in spring"
- At the bottom: "Seascape, leaden sky"
- At the top: "Clinging to wisdom. The child dreams of becoming an adult"
- At the bottom: "The adult clings nostalgically to his youth"
- On the left: "Predominance of reason over feelings"
- On the right: "Predominance of feelings over reason"
- On the left: "The conscious. Shades of emerald green"
- On the right: "The unconscious. Shades of emerald green"
- At the top: "Sunbeams. 11:00 AM"
- At the bottom: "Moon reflections. 11:00 PM"
- On the left: "The dawn of a love"
- On the right: "The sunset of a love"
- On the left: "Tears of joy"
- On the right: "Tears of pain"
Dualism in art.
The reversible watercolors of Giorgia Vitale (2023)
Is it possible to create, in a single painting, a reflection of itself with the opposite meaning?
It is, through the skillful technique of the artist Giorgia Vitale. There exists, in the pictorial production of Giorgia Vitale, a captivating dualism: the reversible watercolors express, almost magically, different and opposing contents and messages. Thus, the dreamlike dimension pervades the works of the artist, musician, poet, painter, and outstanding pianist. Music itself, with its perfect harmony, gives the works that rhythmic balance typical of the musical staff (right/left; up/down), a rhythmic balance that serves to provide perfect harmony to the whole.
Moreover, the peculiarity of the elegant and composite technique of the watercolorist is supported by a marked sensitivity and a richness of content and themes, in particular, also with a social background, that flow into the work, showing a particular preciousness and uniqueness, in the author's intentions and in her concrete realization. The specificity of Vitale's watercolor lies in the fact that, by flipping the view 180 degrees, the contents and therefore also the messages turn out to be opposite. Which, in a painting that tackles the difficult technique of watercolor (almost impossible to correct), is a complex operation that begins in the painter's mind, from her marked sensitivity, from her personal culture, to achieve happy, brilliant, and meaningful results of profound messages, to the very reversible contents and messages.
M. T. Prestigiacomo (Art Critic)
