Enio Di Stefano.
Enio Di Stefano was born in Rocca di Cambio, in the province of L'Aquila. At a very young age he began to paint and in the following years he maintained his passion for art by experimenting with ever-changing techniques and themes, in a path of continuous research.
He has exhibited in numerous group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including in 2001 Arts Culture Harrol in London, in 2003 Contemporary Art Exhibition at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, in 2014 Art Shopping Paris - Art Fair International, in Paris. Among his various solo exhibitions, Equator Books stand out, which was held in 2008 in Los Angeles, Venice and Milan, and in 2018 Covered market gallery art “Hypatia on show” in Falconara Marittima, Ancona.
He currently paints in watercolor, oil and acrylic, each time choosing the medium that best matches his mood and the type of representation, which often arises from the story of the close relationship between man and nature.
Enio Di Stefano's multifaceted skills are expressed in creating different series, ranging from figurative to abstract.
In 1982 he devoted himself to paintings related to ecological themes, among which "The doll" stands out, which highlights the contradiction present in this subject and in the immense quantity of plastic objects created for children, loved for a short time and then abandoned. and destined to become symbols of a growing and tragic pollution.
In the "Olivo" series the artist looks at the environment with a different value and collects the essence of man and woman and their fusion in nature, enclosed in a single tree, a symbol of peace and life, in a ideal landscape.
The link with surrealism shapes other works by him, where he places fruit peels in abstract spaces, which create the viewer a feeling of lack and the desire to perceive their flavor. Absence is more intense than presence.
In the Casuality series nature is represented by white pebbles, which seem to express the essence of natural forms and at the same time their resilient strength, these contrast with simple geometric shapes, emphasized mainly with primary colors, to represent the first embryos of existence and the origin of life, slow and casual. In some of these works there is also sand, or rather, the shoreline, which evokes surrealist images and which here narrates the presence of water, without necessarily representing it, thanks to which primordial life was born.
In the paintings dedicated to states of mind, the focus is on the human figure, and its emblem is Compression which represents the loneliness of today's man, forced into a small space, almost closed in a box by the pressures of an organized and frenetic life that it comes to nullify its identity.
Finally, the contrast of the abstract compositions of the Lightness series, where the artist opens a window on the unconscious, allowing himself cathartic moments of creative freedom.
A red thread that intertwines surreal images and more expressionist elements, together with the ability to experiment with new creative ways, allowing Enio Di Stefano to tell different aspects of the human soul and nature in an ever new way: the enigmas, the lightness, the loneliness, the strength and energy of life, combined with the message of the need for a balance with the natural world and the awareness of the smallness of man to the universe.
PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS
1978 Town Hall of Rocca di Mezzo (L'Aquila)
1982 Rectorate Building of the University of Ancona
1982 Town Hall of Orte (Viterbo)
1982 Cultural Circle of the Municipality of Sirolo (Ancona)
1983 Fanum Fortunae Gallery - Fano (Pesaro)
1989 Town Hall of Numana (Ancona)
1989 1st District of the Municipality of Ancona
1997 Modigliani Gallery - Milan
1998 Studio d’arte Due Gallery - Venice
1998 Studio d’Arte Due Gallery - Tezze sul Brenta (Vicenza)
1998 Atelier of the Arco Amoroso - Ancona
2005 Church of S. Lucia - Giuseppe Bartolucci Room - Poggio di Ancona
2006 Atelier of the Arco Amoroso - Ancona
2008 Equator Books - Venice - Los Angeles
2009 Polytechnic University of Marche - Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (Ancona)
2010 Exhibition Hall of the Rectorate of the University of Ancona
2012 Palazzo Bettini - Jesi (Ancona)
2018 Hall of the Covered Market (in the Hypatia area on display) - Falconara Marittima (Ancona)
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
1994 XI Edition Bonda Arte - Ancona
1995 XlV Art Review G.B. Salvi - Sassoferrato (Ancona)
1995 IV Biennale, Moment of Art between Marche and Umbria - Fabriano (Ancona)
1995 Spoleto in Winter, Contemporary Art Review - Spoleto
1996 Biennial of Art city of S. Elpidio a Mare
1996 Contemporary Art Review "Spring Meetings" - Reggio Emilia
1996 1st Exhibition - Art Market City of Vittoria (Ragura)
1996 Review of Contemporary Art - Spoleto
1997 1st Art Exhibition - Collective Antoology - Milan
1997 III Review of Contemporary Art - Spoleto
1997 Life of Art in Osimo - Osimo (Ancona)
1998 IV Exhibition of Contemporary Art - Spoleto
1999 IntinerArte - Galatina (Lecce)
2000 ETRURIARTE Contemporary Art Market Exhibition - Venturina (Livorno)
2001 Arts Culture Harrol - London
2003 Review of Contemporary Art - Palazzo Barberini - Rome
2004 Exhibition of Contemporary Art Mediapolis - Stresa (Verbania)
LIST OF ART MAGAZINES
ART LEADER January 1998
ART LEADER May 1998
ART LEADER June 1999
ART LEADER December 1999
EXPOART April 2014
EXPOART July 2015
WITHOUT TITLE October 2020
Vittorio Sgarbi 2021 Prize Catalog
Enio Di Stefano, the metaphysical investigation of nature and human weaknesses.
Digging and deepening existential themes was an imperative for several artists of the first half of the last century who had found themselves having to overcome the discomforts and destabilizations caused by the delicate historical period they were going through. The same type of gaze aimed at revealing the most intimate and complex implications of living characterizes today's protagonist who takes up and updates that fascinating investigation into the human soul.
The first decades of the twentieth century were a hotbed of artistic movements and currents that seemed to spring and unravel from each other and take different directions while all starting from the same premise, that of breaking the predetermined patterns that had dominated the world of previous art. , to open the way to experimentation with new expressive languages, to detachment from objective reality and from classically understood figuration. In particular, Surrealism chose to remain linked to the figurative approach while introducing in its guidelines the need to explore the dream world, of dreams as well as nightmares, of the mystery that can be hidden behind commonly used objects which, if decontextualized, take on a meaning and importance completely different from ordinary ones. Within the same current there was almost a split, because extremism and restlessness closer to the nightmares and unresolved knots of the terrified and frightened interiority of Salvador Dalì and Max Ernst, perhaps more linked to investigations into the psyche of Sigmund Freud to whom the movement was inspired to determine the guidelines, were far from the more possibilist point of view, more exploratory towards the human being, the doubts, the perplexities, the destabilizations generated by the lack of certainties of the time that instead characterized the fascinating and enigmatic canvases of Metaphysics by Rene Magritte, Yves Tanguy and the Italian master Giorgio De Chirico. Whereas in the works of the surrealist masters it was the inner demons, fears, and deepest nightmares that dominated, in the canvases of metaphysicians, on the other hand, the investigation into the uncertainty of living, inner doubts, fear of being and of recognizing oneself prevailed. too small in a world that is too large, suggesting to the observer that all one can hold onto is one's essence. The Abruzzese artist Enio Di Stefano takes up the most metaphysical themes, bringing them closer and updating them with a more contemporary sense, exploring the complex current life and the motivations, the themes that emerge from a more in-depth investigation into everything that does not surface you can see that they are basically similar to those of the man of the last century, even if the cause and effect mechanism is different, which transforms and allows discomfort and anxiety to emerge. His Metaphysics insinuates itself into everyday life and somehow interprets the need, the need to find a way out, a way to go beyond what seems inevitable and try to draw a border line between what is important, and therefore it must be held back and preserved, and what if pursued can only lead to isolation, a fall from which it is then difficult to get up. The fullness that can be found chasing an ideal, running after dreams, is often opposed to the void that remains when the envelope, the appearance, the surface not reinforced by the substance necessary to fill and make sense of everything prevail. The work Mandarini seems to be an allegory of an existence spent caring for an external shell which, however, once the internal consistency has been abandoned, remains lifeless, inducing the observer to reflect on how fleeting all that is chasing material is forgetting to cultivate the things that also nourish the soul, the interiority, which is the only one that can really survive when one strips oneself of that outer covering. The same theme, but in more explicit terms, is re-proposed by Di Stefano in the Mannequin canvas which can be interpreted under a double aspect: as a warning not to pursue only and solely the form, because everything that can be generated is an existential inconsistency within which everything will be lost, or, by virtue of the ancient capital that is behind the figure, the warning is not to erase through the vain and superficial culture of the present, all that has founded and constituted a solid, important, rich past that it should continue to be the root to which to keep bound, before the memory vanishes and only weak testimonies, eroded and bitten by mice, remain of contemporary society. Bivalences, choices, options that occur frequently and on which one or the other reality that man lives depends on, are the basis of Enio Di Stefano's philosophical thought, a thought that is revealed even more evidently in the work Balance in where the protagonist walks on the thread of his destiny and that of humanity, and on his sides the two possible realities are visible depending on whether his path will deviate towards one side or the other. The ecological theme emerges in this canvas, the artist's awareness that continuing to run after a progress that forgets to respect the earth that hosts man, can be harmful and generate an arid, dry future, with no more rivers and fundamental verdant forests. to the very survival of all animal species, as well as plants. Thus, in Men Di Stefano he narrates human nature as a Dante's circle, where the imperative is prevarication and the primordial instinct to be the first to see the light in the center, which seems to represent the possibility of salvation towards which before or then, anyone who tends, even those who have bypassed others to achieve their goals. Yet hope emerges, the ability to take hold of one's own destiny and modify its possible scenarios through a reversal, an introspective attitude that leads the individual to a profound reflection, to an unprecedented contact with himself that induces him to slow down the pace, to look for what really matters and do everything possible to hold it back, because in the end idealism lets out the most fragile part but also the one by virtue of which everything is possible; the Thoughts canvas tells exactly this path, the determination, albeit belated, to maintain a strong bond with the ability to dream, not to give up that childlike part necessary to be better adults. During his long artistic career Enio Di Stefano has exhibited in numerous group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, including Arts Culture Harrol in London, Contemporary Art Exhibition at Palazzo Barberini in Rome, Art Shopping Paris - Art Fair International, in Paris while Equator Books stands out among the most important personal exhibitions, which took place in 2008 in Los Angeles, Venice and Milan.
Marta Lock
A WALK TO THE SEA WITH DI STEFANO
Enjoy the extemporaneous and sudden suspicion, at the distracted observation of the series of stones painted by Enio Di Stefano, of having stumbled upon a sweet and reassuring obsession. In short, it seems to us that this painter enjoyed compiling the various appearances and compositions of a privileged subject, studied and researched in different combinations of perimeters and profiles, porosity, incidences of light. A nice and secretly provocative exercise in repetition, between the farcical taste of not wanting to say anything and the puzzle of leaving a curiosity in the observer, without any kind of interpretation keys. We ask ourselves more or less embarrassed or with ironic arrogance: «But why all these stones? What do they mean? ". The mystery is soon solved: we are at the sea with Di Stefano, we walk with him and our questions and concerns, the priority questions, the ideas about life and the world, seem to chase each other and arrange themselves along the jagged and random piles of stones on the sand, which, in the silence of the light, distract from anyway insoluble questions and already only in their patient constructiveness speak of an intuited space, of a mute but laborious presence. A little time passes and, not yet surrendering to the beautiful uselessness of those stones, we continue to seek trivial conceptual help, perhaps overheard in some popular art history lesson: "We unmasked you Di Stefano! All you do is take Leonardo's advice, to look at the stains on the walls and the stones to come up with images! ". But the stones are not allowed to be switched in any way. There remain, with aristocratic and impenetrable simplicity without compromise, stones arranged in groups, superimposed between the folds shaped by the wind and storm surges. Di Stefano limits himself, with the skill that is always combined with humility, to reproduce them for us in different techniques. Here, with acrylic, the stones show the reflecting and shiny power of their surfaces still in the sunlight; here with the watercolor they open up the spaces of their porosity. For the writer, Enio Di Stefano is, on a strictly personal level of history, a friend of all time. It is therefore easy to refer to his favorite authors, especially the ancient philosophers, frequented with a voracity free from critical heaviness and restored to the creative imagination. We have often chatted together, with disordered happiness, of the "emanations" from Plotinus's One, of those very distant shaded areas that perhaps imply a desired return to a reconciled light, already present in the darkness in scattered splinters. Observing his stones, one cannot fail to notice those colored geometric filaments that (in the form of polygons, triangles) meander among the shapes, as if to recall the hope alluded to by a design and necessary network under the chaotic arrangement of frayed and irregular masses . Yet just the material that searches for itself in approaches and constructions seems to be the bearer of a perceptive consolation: the stones participate in an unexpected genius that guides them to inhabit space. Di Stefano carried out a subdued pictorial discourse, claiming the absolute right to his own reverie, and this subject is just one of the many he stubbornly wanted to listen to, dedicating to him (as to each of the others) a long period of creativity and work. Consistent with his scientific training, he uses painting only to seek a new application to the consideration of forms, in short, with the license of an inverted telescope. In this walk by the sea, we unlearn the unrealistic and formulistic habit of sadly dispersed and emptied thoughts. Those stones, to look at them better, as soon as they seem to help us in some secret way… Of course, they give us back the sense of our solidity.
Simone Dubrovic
