Antonio DeVito. Ancient art in a modern context

Antonio DeVito. Ancient art in a modern context

Florence and its surrounding areas are famous for a thriving artisan community, whose members still maintain Renaissance traditions today. Though mass tourism and a changing economy have significantly impacted the industry’s workshops, there are still numerous examples of true craftsmanship in Florence. These artisans helped make Florence one

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Thu 24 Jan 2008 1:00 AM

Florence and its surrounding areas are famous for a thriving artisan community, whose members still maintain Renaissance traditions today. Though mass tourism and a changing economy have significantly impacted the industry’s workshops, there are still numerous examples of true craftsmanship in Florence. These artisans helped make Florence one of the best loved cities in the world—their craftsmanship is a testament to artistic survival in an increasingly globalized world.

 

 

Antonio DeVito. Ancient art in a modern context

Within the walls of a fourteenth-century tower in the hills above Florence is I Muri Dell’Arte. Although the workshop opened several years ago, the art practiced within is ancient. Here artists create frescoes using the purest of techniques—the same used by great masters like Giotto and Michelangelo—by preparing plaster with lime and sand and drawing on its surface.

 

Fresco painting demands incredible speed and confidence, with little or now room for error or second thoughts.

 

Due to the difficulty of the technique, few artists use the traditional method today.

 

Fresco means ‘fresh’ in Italian. Since the image is painted directly on fresh plaster, the actual process of painting must be completed in just a few hours. Only naturally clay-based colors are used. The paint then permeates the wall. The color is absorbed by the lime and becomes part of the wall itself.

 

Once complete, the fresco is left for several weeks to dry and to begin the aging process. It is then ready to be detached from the wall using the stacco technique and is repositioned on the new wall or panel where it will be displayed.

 

De Vito’s frescoes owe their modernity to the result after detaching them from their original wall. They become fragments, subjects isolated from their original context, and take on a life of their own, inviting the observer to create a new story and a new context. The wall, with its cracks and roughness, becomes the main character.

 

 

From study comes creativity

Born in Puglia, Italy, Antonio De Vito graduated from Lecce’s Scuola D’Arte in 1970. He carried out his first experiments in 1975 under the tutelage of a restorer while studying at the Art Institute in Urbino. This experience prompted him to move to Florence to complete his artistic and cultural studies and to undertake complex research on the works of the great artistic masters. Just as ‘disciples’ studied their masters in Renaissance workshops, at first imitating them, then breaking out on their own, he frequented the same workshops and through intense study was able to master the complex fresco technique, identifying the methods used and unearthing its secrets.

 

De Vito’s study of antique frescoes allow him to exploit the natural imperfections of the wall, so that the fractures and  marks—which add to the charm of works—are also present in his pieces. The uniqueness of his work lies in revisiting classic subjects in a modern tone, while maintaining their fundamental nature.

 

From his first exhibit, given at Palazzo Strozzi in 2004, Antonio De Vito has shown his work on various occasions throughout Italy and abroad, never failing to inspire and generate interest.

 

 

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