For those that know my work as a sculptor and a painter know that is essentially dedicated to the big city and to its main events. For what motive, with what right do I speak then of the pastels of Fabio Pellicano, which represent almost all landscapes in and around Tricase, a town at the extreme edges of Puglia.
It was this extreme place that eluded me 40 years ago during my quick passing through the region and again two years ago, when Lecce was my destination. This time around, because of my anxiousness to reach the places in and around Lecce, the gearbox in my brand new car broke and I once again missed the opportunity to visit the inspiration of Pellicano.
Then at the beginning of this year I examined the works that Fabio had brought me. These works were like the images of a Promised Land that had never been reached and like places that with their enchanting light suggested an invoked paradise.
That which had transformed the dream into reality was simply the fact that all of these pastels were and are in their small dimensions perfectly beautiful. Small in form, but dense, and saturated of pure colors the pastels transmit to us a simple happiness of the land, the sea, and the sky. It was this beauty that struck me inspiring me to write this short foreword because in the large centers where art is created today, beauty is widely forgotten.
The word “beauty” is never present in works of criticism of art. Instead, sensationalized objects that uniquely appeal to the senses are exalted. Whereas the beauty that is like static music speaking to the soul, is essential to art.
This worship of the difficult and rare design of the artist is like a being apart. Naturally the seductive character of these pastels translate the true beauty of the Tricasan landscape, which has so deeply inspired Fabio Pellicano. I don’t need to underline that the passage from reality to his artistic equivalent requires work and talent and that the more beautiful the subject is the more difficult it is understand it and not the opposite.
The fundamental things in figurative art it is the deep knowledge of the subject that transforms the raw material to precious metal. This is surely the case with Fabio, adopted son of this place and forever the man capable of getting drunk on the beauty of the world.
These pastels of modest dimensions are a moment in the career of Fabio Pellicano. Lets not forget that he lives and works in Paris.
He is an artist with aspirations and he confided in me his desire to develop big paintings, widely composed and constructed. I trust in him and in his ability to profit by the art of the big museums and by the frequentation with valid artists of his generation because I have been testimony to the progress obtained in just one year in the production of the enchanting works that today merit a place of honor.
Raymond Mason