Page 39 - PROTAGONIST-134

A small village in the Swiss Alps, just over the Italian border. be graphite or clay, determinedly moving forward into the marrow
A family led by Giovanni, a cultured and curious father who is a of things, investigating their strength.
painter, sharing his love of art with his children. Alberto dreams of In fact, the artist says: “Whatever it is, sculpture or painting, it
Paris as he reaps the rewards of his artistic heritage… is only the drawing that counts,” yes, because to draw an educated
Alberto Giacometti needed little to keep his balance. His and conscious mark on a sheet of paper with a pencil is to aim for
needs were reduced to the bone, what mattered most to him was the heart of art making.
being free and independent. In his remarkable sculptures, paintings, and intricate
His life consisted of days that resembled each other, a engravings, the essence of drawing – the skeletal framework that
succession of hours spent working. He lived, focused, in a small supports and breathes life into his marks – shines through in every
workshop: 23 square metres, dominated by a large window, a space expression.
he never abandoned or expanded, not even when he made his Art is like stripping itself of matter and colour to extract, to
fortune. liberate a hidden, inner, intimate reality; it must give space to that
This asceticism tells us much about him and is one and the armour, to that current line that feeds poetry.
same with his work; in his craft he works with strong, decisive So he digs into his own mark, pushes it further, moulds it.
gestures, shaping his medium in a way that dries and removes Now it is intense and unequivocal, unique.
excess. His iconic subtle figures are like an apparition against the
His hands remove the excess, his eye delves deep in search of light. They emerge struck by a dazzling luminosity, so intense that
the essential, of the energy present in every expression, whether it it erodes the boundaries of form.

Protagonist Art 37