CARLO CALDARA

“Licht und Vergänglichkeit” / “Light and Transience” Benjamin Eck Gallery, Munich
Text by Domenico de Chirico

His weighty existential approach, corroborated by a composite style—dense with archetypal forms, autobiographical nods, symbolic mathematical and geological references, objets trouvés cleverly decontextualized and reassembled—leads him through the most impervious paths of an analytical investigation of man’s place in the world, in an attempt to trace the multiple meanings and varied possibilities of interpreting human existence.

Promulgator of a very personal Weltanshauung, strongly characterized by his own poetic figure, Carlo Caldara intends to contribute to rewriting human history through a skillful use of matter. In fact, his vast repertoire of works—which often favours large-scale—ranges from painting to sculpture and from installation to photography, and incorporates various materials, including: charcoal, cement, gauze, stones, LED lights, and mirrors.

The latter, in particular, designate an intimate visual reflection on a polysemous reality and constitute, allegorically speaking, a passage to a further dimension, an alternative pathway combining reflection and mirror reflection as well as an incontrovertible emblem of exploration of an implacable reality here rendered as a sculptural ritual, between reflection and dislocation, illusion and deception.

Here, corpulent lines, low temperatures, cold lights, and diaphanous organic materials trace something that is now accomplished, speak to us reasonably about human nature, the surrounding reality, and the question of identity, and, through metaphorical images, shape art into a solemn creative act.

Taking inspiration from modernism or more recent currents such as postmodernism and conceptualism, Caldara pushes beyond abstraction. The porous intermingling of forms, colors, and lines is intended to create an elevated dialogue with the viewer. Considering that his works manifest themselves through the onset of dark, dramatic yet vibrant tones, depending on the emotions he wants to evoke, we arrive at the theme of the connivance between light and transience.

These are powerful symbols that, in turn, represent complex concepts such as knowledge, being, time and, indeed, the human condition. Thus, on the one hand, making use of the symbolism pertaining to darkness, composed of errors and illusions that define the chimerical knowledge of the sensible world, he emphasizes that of light, which is often associated with knowledge, truth, and revelation and which represents the potential for understanding higher ideas; on the other hand, there is transience, a concept that concerns time, change, and the fleetingness of the human condition and the world, often connected to the ephemeral nature of life, mortality, and the transience of things.

Indeed, in Martin Heidegger’s words, this transience is linked to the idea of being-for-death (Sein-zum-Tode), where awareness of one’s finitude and the transience of existence is essential to living fully and authentically. Therefore, human beings are constantly projected toward their own death, and this constitutive transience of being makes existence fragile and meaningful at the same time.

It is on the basis of such precepts that this new exhibition chapter Licht und Vergänglichkeit takes shape, in which these two constituent elements are interwoven to best describe the human condition, without ever evading the atavistic question of the connivance between the eternal and earthly life, whose efforts entwine to sketch, wherever possible, the fluidity of nature and the rush of fleeting moments as luminous experiences that escape eternity, beyond that cycle of tangible time that grips the indolent flow of time.

While light illuminates knowledge and revelation, transience reminds us of the fragility and caducity of existence; albeit both routes lead us to explore the nature of the world, being, and experience. Furthermore, in Heidegger’s thought, as well as in Caldara’s artistic research, light takes on ontological significance. Both maneuver, metaphorically speaking, the concept of Lichtung, whose equivalent in Italian is “radura” (clearing) or “apertura” (opening), that is, that place where being manifests itself. Light, in this sense, between scarcity and participation, is no longer only physical but represents the openness of being to human understanding.

Hence it is to the sound of traces and memories, and through the symbolic analysis of light—understood as a concrete tool to be deployed in the exploration of visible reality—that Carlo Caldara makes perceptible even the concept of transience, creating comprehensive sensory experiences that intentionally challenge the perception and meaning of space in constant flux. Thus, amidst raw materials and iron tones, an unprecedented conception of that time arises that, while reflecting the essence of becoming and finitude, eternally continues to determine change and impermanence, generating works characterized by a strong sense of monumentality and a profound reflection on humanity’s past and present.



Among the solo exhibitions of recent years are:

2013: “Gli Immortali”, curated by M. Corgnati, at the Palazzo del Senato, State Archives in Milan;

2016: “Living your dream”, curated by F.C.Simonelli, G.Monti and E. Beluffi, at the Milan Triennale, on the occasion of the XXI International Triennale; “Lose your mind”, curated by A. D’Amelio, at the Palazzo Flangini in Venice, on the occasion of the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale.

2017: “True Story”, curated by C.Strinati, at the Vittoriano complex in Rome and at the Guatemala Pavilion of the 57th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale.

In 2018 with his wife Arch. Federica Kluzer presented the work “Virtual Architecture – Real world” at the Guatemala Pavilion of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – Venice Biennale, “Stigma”, curated by D.R.Tedeschi. The artist was invited in 2019 to curate “Epic Memory” at the 58th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale, in the Grenada Pavilion.

curated by D.R.Tedeschi, where he exhibited a large globe entitled “MEMORY WAYS”.

2021: “One for eleven”, Art Week, Turin, Spazio Musa.

2022: “Worring AboutEternity”, curated by M. Ritter, solo exhibition, Opus In Artem, Artsy.

2024: “Whispers of Art”, curated by A.Forni, Vigevano Biennale, Castello Sforzesco, Vigevano.




ABOUT PETER DEMETZ

Born in Bolanzo, Italy, Peter Demetz has gained international recognition for his intricate wood carvings. After studying at the St. Ulrich Art Institute, Demetz completed an apprenticeship with master sculptor Heinrich Demetz, whose focus on “sacred art” had a lasting influence on Peter and his work. Demetz then studied educational and developmental psychology, where he gave lectures and seminars.

Since 2001, Demetz has taught wood carving, drawing, design, anatomy and other courses for the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, the Daetz Center in Lichtenstein, Germany, the Swarovski Design Center in Austria and the LKJ-Sachsen in Leipzig.

Demetz's work features extraordinarily detailed wooden figures positioned in a light box like a theater stage. The figures' external appearance is often downplayed or hidden to draw attention to their inner world. An individual self-reflection is always present in each of Demetz's works, which have attracted international attention through exhibitions in Italy, Austria, Germany, the USA, Belgium and Turkey, as well as at fairs such as Art Miami.