To the eye, which approaches Antonella Vitali's artistic production, the purity of the line, the clear and sharp mark of its stroke, the full and dense colour that fills the canvas, an almost tangible chromatic mass that seems to overflow from the borders, remain strongly impressed. This energetic force fills the eye and gives rise to a solid sense of peace, of a balance that seems to have been achieved.
Paradigmatic is the serenity of ABBRACCIO, in which, against a background of soft but compact colouring, two very regular, graduated blocks emerge that are held by a small but strong rectangular lace. Two apparently opposing colour entities that understand and support each other. The paintings in this 'series' are the visual manifestation of a bond that people or, perhaps better, any animate entity can create with someone else if only they can overcome the apparent distance.
The welcoming is a central theme in Antonella's production. In CASAMATITA 1R and CASAMATITA 1G she proposes the stylized form of a house, the place that by definition should be the propelling center of openness and care for others: a red heart pulsating with affection that goes beyond the confines of a stylized dwelling, rendered with a stroke that is deliberately simple, but as deep as a furrow, like the graphic mark a child might draw on an immaculate sheet of paper. In fact, in the dreams of the children, and in the expectations of the grown-ups, the house draws and contains the plots of affection and relationships that everyone would like to be able to build.
The geometric rigorism that characterizes these works, together with a decisive graphism, could give rise to the thought that in Antonella's art and production everything is at peace, achieved and balanced, but this is not the case. Here is the disruption of LAMPO, a bright, sparkling discharge that shatters the stillness and shatters the solidity. Here is the manifestation of a strong glow of light in a NOTTE, dark and gloomy like the backdrop of a theatre before the curtain rises, on which a bright flame is lit, heralding the desire to discover who is hiding in the darkness.
But in interpersonal relationships, conflicts and tensions can also arise that threaten peace. The Flight (VOLO) of a Dove, white of hope, can bring serenity above the chaos of a world at war, of unresolved conflicts, of interrupted life paths, of homes that are no longer safe havens, but boxes of death. It emerges, therefore, that several souls coexist in the artist, or rather that there are pushes and counter-pushes that move her to a never-tiring research and a continuous revisionism. On the one hand, there is a deepening aimed at the essential plots, at the fundamentals of a life: those hinges are the emotions, which keep one alive and drive one to altruistic attitudes. This is the case in ABBRACCIO, but also in ALBERO ROSSO, in which two large white rectangles are included, but not enclosed by rectangles of colour.
On the other hand, there is a continuous, swirling motion of research that makes everyday life unstable, so that the brushstrokes become rapid, dense and with undefined contours as in VELE and NOVAGLIO. It is also the same luminous and blinding instability as in VENEZIA. A continuous refraction of touches of colour against a dominant blue background: after all, what place in the world is more unstable, suspended and floating than the lagoon city? It is the place where light never arrives in a univocal direction, but diverges, collides, refracts and breaks up into myriad points of view.
Everyone, if they wish, will begin their own search. Antonella only suggests the fundamental act to start with: FIDUCIA BLU, a dot of colour in a white sea. It is necessary to trust in the other and in what can happen beyond our expectations: sharing is the only baggage to carry with us in life.