Giuseppe Siano

Forme nell'Isola

Vinicio Momoli's exhibition for Procida is clearly "minimalist". I am referring, in particular, to the materials used and his original way of understanding a work of art. His works, not surprisingly, have lost the dimension of "representation" of an image or a form corresponding to reality, to reveal themselves as an "artistic object". This happens both when the work remains hanging on the wall, and when - in full minimalist spirit - it becomes a "three-dimensional object", which invades the exhibition space, mostly descending to the floor and becoming an "artistic object" to be used experience. It doesn't matter, then, if in this case Momoli's work is placed at a certain distance from the engaging physical contact of the user; when the latter would expect all the principles of the minimalist current to be respected. In my opinion, Momoli's minimalist quote reaches this far, without forgetting the use of some innovative materials such as iron, plexiglass and rubber. His narration is essential; and is reduced, in some less recent works, to line, volume and light. He, however, wants to make the viewer participate in the work of art, and he does so with discretion. For this reason Momoli conceives, unlike the orthodox of the minimalist current, the relationship between user and work involved in a still distant relationship, without a physical impact complicit in invasive interactions of the work. And this is how the work of art for ours also takes on a conceptual character; precisely because the "artistic object" distances itself from other "objects" and from contact with the physical body of the user. It also turns out that the work of art for our artist is first and foremost an "object" that becomes artistic through the sensory experience of light, color and materials. For this reason I think that Momoli, while maintaining the minimalist formative construction, which involves both new materials and the essentiality of modular-informal construction, also includes the spatialist vision in its productions; in particular the one that makes no difference between painting and sculpture, but that he perceives only "forms, colour, sound" of the work.

With this transversal vision it is possible to give the right intermediate location to some of the works on Momoli's walls; in particular, I am referring to those that go beyond simplifying geometric abstraction and which often reveal themselves with holes and cuts, which evoke the citation of other radical experiences such as those of Burri and Fontana. Momoli cannot be ascribed among the artists who "radicalize" the message of a particular aesthetic-linguistic experience in their work, precisely because he is also interested in the formal balance between matter and color. Yet despite the fact that his works are placed at a certain distance from the user, the relationship with them undoubtedly continues to be physical, as Renato Barilli, Boris Brollo and Omar Calabrese have well remembered, when they place particular emphasis on the new materials used. These critics, in fact, invite us to abandon ourselves to a relational comparison, which is the cornerstone of minimalist theories. What is relevant in Momoli's works, therefore, is neither the object represented nor the physical relationship which, as I have noticed, is dissolved in the formal and tonal balance of the "artistic object". In the specific case of object-works, this relationship becomes visual-tactile in sculptures, due to the presence of materials that are rarely used in the design and formation of "art objects". Then there is the lack of experience of users who cannot easily digest a story that has its roots in an artistic language that is not yet well codified; in which even the canons of the minimal reduction of the project are alienated. For this reason it seems that Momoli proposes going beyond that experience of minimal reduction of ideas and concepts in the work of art. It is difficult today to directly connect experiences to the models of cognition that each of us chooses every time in a relational context. We live in a universe founded on the theory of probability, so every time we choose a direction and an organization we also bring out values.

It is these space-time arrows that emerge every time in singularities as relationships that also generate linguistic-organizational cohesion and a momentary behavioral code. Yet Momoli tries to erase even the ultimate codes of reference from his minimal representations; because his aim - if we could say - is to "represent the minimalism of linguistic codes" not yet well codified and recognizable as relational organisations. Here the observer can find himself in a kind of reversed "détournement" (alias: "estrangement that modifies the way of perceiving common objects"). In this singular environment are the unusual "artistic objects" that seek to establish connections with real or imagined objects by means of remote codes with which the observer can evoke relational and behavioral models. The codes and artistic models in Momoli's works can only emerge through the experience of a user, and from the connection of one's own conceptual relationships. We note that our behaviors and cognitions are no longer based on the relationships between subjects and objects, but on the relationships between a singularity and its vital environment. In art, the structure and constituent materials of a work surpass the concepts and ideas formulated through the hidden meanings of words. This happens because the artistic and aesthetic models of the past have become unusable to talk about "artistic objects" that have not yet emerged as relational and cultural models. For this reason it seems that Momoli makes use of lexemes which, despite the common root, have not yet allowed the emergence of models in which those linguistic idiolects are forged which allow the experiences of life to be recounted, also in relation to the new philosophical vision of universe. We must understand, first of all, how today the organization of cognitions produces different models and different behavioral codes of reference in each singularity; and, furthermore, if one does not master the code of one of the artistic tribes there cannot be an appropriate sharing of experiences. Specifically, for our artist, it seems that the story is inherent in the indeterminacy of the message. The message is entrusted to an indefinite "artistic object" which with each singularity may or may not tell us that for each physical or conceptual human production there are indeterminate probabilities that a well-structured linguistic code could emerge which today indicates how this universe was born, how it will end and what purpose it has, together with a current not well identified "theory of everything"; but there are also other indeterminate probabilities that completely different "theories" may emerge tomorrow, and many other indeterminate probabilities that can never emerge in this relative universe of ours. In this way the artistic message seems to be entrusted by Momoli to the cognitive emergencies of singularities. In summary we can say that for Momoli the principles are indeterminate and probabilistic, while his works are minimalist; right because these must be observed for the experience that is formed when the light and colors of the new materials strike the sensitivity of the observers.

Giuseppe Siano - Art theorist
Procida (2016)