THE THEME OF THIS EDITION
The path of inspiration is always lighted. If the light comes from a star, from an idea, from a place you yearn for, the desire to follow even the smallest bright fragment corresponds to the choice of creating.
The poet Milton said that God and light have no end (they are eternal) and no beginning (they are not created) and for this reason they are synonymous, co-eternal. This spiritual tension (not specifically religious) is the mystery of the ongoing search for the enlightened path that the human being has always sought to orient himself, to feel safe and above all to forge his own work.
It is the light that reveals and shows the truth, which animates the artist at the height of creation. It is the light that allows the viewer to admire what has been created and, in a reciprocal return, to add life to life.
It is an artistic photosynthesis even more prodigious when the medium to be used has the feature of light as substantial. A property that lends itself to numerous unveiling variations.
The new edition of COMEL Prize 2016 wants to allow artists to bring out the aluminum light, its ability to reverberate on the surface, reflect, mirror, illuminate, invoke clarity, emanate and then link spaces and dimensions; without considering its opposite (darkness) as a negative characteristic, and indeed making it an essential component of its expressive power.
THE JURY
GIORGIO AGNISOLA
Art critic and essayist,
President of the Jury
He is an Art critic and writer. He is Professor at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy. He is also associate director of the Advanced Training School in Arts and Theology. He has collaborated with the cultural pages of the national newspaper ‘Avvenire’, especially on the Art section. For many years, he has worked as a consultant of Modern and Contemporary Art in French-speaking countries in Europe. He has written several books. Among the last ones, Viaggio nell’opera, vedere e sentire l’arte, (Moretti & Vitali, 2005), La pietra e l’angelo, (Guida, 2007), L’oltranza dello sguardo, in Friedrich, Monet, Cézanne, (Il pozzo di Giacobbe, 2010), L’avvertimento dell’oltre in Morandi, Rothko e Manzù (Il pozzo di Giacobbe, 2015), Itinerari dell’anima (Guida, 2016). He is a member of the International Association of Art Critics. He has curated international exhibitions, such as ‘Magnelli, works 1915-1970’, 2013, ‘Burri, unico e multiplo’, 2014, both held at the municipal art gallery of Gaeta.
ANNA AMENDOLAGINE
art critic and essayist
Born in Rome, Anna Amendolagine lives and works in Italy and abroad. She is a functionary of the Cultural Promotion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Abroad she has held the positions of Director at the Italian Institutes, University Lecturer and researcher. Her curatorial activity started in 2003 and has included the planning and realization of exhibitions, festivals and cultural events in collaboration with public and private institutions. She has also edited and written texts for various catalogs. Among the most significant experiences in the field of promotion of Contemporary Art, the participation at the “Festival Europalia 2003 Italia”, in Brussels, and the curatorship of the retrospective exhibition “Nunzio Bibbo. Genesi di un dialogo: Italia-Bulgaria”, at the National Gallery of Foreign Art, Sofia, conceived by Vittorio Sgarbi (Biennale di Venezia 2011.) Journalist and Press officer, she has written numerous articles on Art and culture for various newspapers and magazines. As a “European Technical Coordinator” she took part in the European Union projects Petra and Leonardo, from 1993 to 1998. Among other specializations and university Masters, she got qualifications in “Art-historical Studies, protection and enhancement of cultural and environmental heritage”.
FABIO BARISANI
designer and photographer
Artist and designer, Fabio Barisani was born in 1957 in Naples, where he still lives and works.
He got a Diploma in the Print Arts at the State Institute of Art ‘F. Palizzi’ of Naples, and later achieved a Diploma in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples and a Master in ‘Digital writing’ at the University of Florence. Since 1979, he has worked professionally as a graphic and visual designer and photographer, working as a freelancer in several architectural studios and graphic design studios for communication. He has participated in various projects in national and international competitions, with numerous books published. Since 1990 he has been a Professor in the Art Institutes and Academies of Fine Arts in Sassari, Rome, Florence and also in Naples, where he currently holds a position in teaching Phenomenology of the body and Techniques and graphics technologies. His most recent artistic research makes use of different techniques of digital animation, as he follows a survey in the relationship between sound and image involving the intervention of experimental musicians and composers. For these accomplishments he is invited to festivals and events in Italy and abroad.
DARIO GIUGLIANO
professor of Aesthetic and philosopher
Graduated cum laude in Aesthetics in Anceschiana School of Università degli Studi di Bologna, he attained a PhD in Philosophy at Università di Trieste, teaching in Universities and Accademies of Arts. He is a member in commission for direction of art’s and epistemology copybooks “Parol” (EDES ed.). He has been chief-redactor in magazine “Kiliagono” (ed. Scheiwiller). He is member of Advisory Council of magazine “Third Text. Critical perspectives on contemporary art & culture” (ed. Routledge). He is Correspondant partner of Accademia di Scienze Morali e Politiche of Società Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti in Naples. He direct magazine “Estetica. Studi e ricerche” (ed. Luciano) and, with Manlio Iofrida and Silvano Petrosino, the Philosophy’s serie “Syrakousai” (Bulzoni ed.). He teached Aesthetics at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, in Milan. He is now teacher of Aesthetics at Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli. His essays appeared on many magazines concerning Philosophy and Art’s theory, both italians and international, such as “aut aut” (ed. Il saggiatore), “Estetica” (ed. Il melangolo), “Rivista di Estetica” (Rosenberg & Sellier), “Millepiani” (Mimesis ed.), “Rue Descartes” (P.U.F.) “Third text” (Routledge), “Teoria” (ed. ETS), “Etica & Politica”, “Discipline filosofiche” (Quodlibet ed.).
MARIA GABRIELLA MAZZOLA
Aluminium Sector Manager
She runs the company CO.ME.L. along with her brother Adriano and her sister Luisa. She combines the technical and business preparation and organization and coordination skills, giving the company new guidelines such as the attention to communication, innovation and marketing strategies. She has always supported, personally and with the company, activities in favor of the territory: art exhibitions, publications, visual arts exhibitions, short film festivals and animal protection. In December 2012 Maria Gabriella received an important recognition for entrepreneurial merits by the Cultural Committee ‘Nuova Immagine Latina’, which awards the most influential people in town. She is President of the Cultural Association ‘Vanna Migliorin’ that promotes and spread events and intellectual works of Contemporary Art in all kind of expressions.
THE 13 FINALISTS
THE WINNERS
MINUTES OF THE JURY OF THE
COMEL AWARD VANNA MIGLIORIN 2016
On 17th October, 2016, at 11 am, at Spazio COMEL, in via Neghelli 68, Latina, the jury of the fifth edition of the COMEL Award Vanna Migliorin got together. The attending jurors were Giorgio Agnisola, Fabio Barisani, Maria Gabriella Mazzola. The other two members of the jury, Anna Amendolagine and Dario Giugliano, sent their preferences confidentially to the curatorial committee of the award, indicating four names on which they had focused their attention, and at the same time mentioning the work to which, in their opinion, the prize should be given. A detailed video of the finalists had been sent to all the jurors, presenting the works individually, and had also been included in the exhibition at the Spazio COMEL.
Giorgio Agnisola presided over the jury, inviting the jurors preliminarily to carry out a careful investigation of the works, indicating four preferences. A calm discussion followed about a comparison of everyone’s point of view. The works were evaluated in relation to the artistic performance, also concerning the theme of this edition, “Lucent Aluminum”.
From the result of personal opinions, considering the choices of the two absent jurors, after detailed examination, the jury decided to award the prize COMEL Vanna Migliorin 2016 to the work ‘Raminia N.12’, (2012) by the artist Luce Genevieve Delhove, for which the jury gave the following reason:
“The work, moving from a neo-Dadaist spirit, with a fine abstract tension, reflects a cultured and refined recreational ability in visual terms, by modulating the laminated surface of an aluminum radiator with signs and impressions such as to evoke the infinite changes of the reverberated light of the metal, with a rare poetic and musical sensibility.“
“The work, moving from a neo-Dadaist spirit, with a fine abstract tension, reflects a cultured and refined recreational ability in visual terms, by modulating the laminated surface of an aluminum radiator with signs and impressions such as to evoke the infinite changes of the reverberated light of the metal, with a rare poetic and musical sensibility.“The jury also decided to designate two works. They deserve special attention for the expressive stylistic register and correspondence to the theme.
These works were:
“Schegge di stelle trafiggono la notte”, (2016), by Ugo Cossu, for the following reason:
“The work is characterized by a very calibrated geometrical-spatial composition, made with a shaped basis and variable relief. It is crossed by two aluminum blades, as if they were light beams, engraved with finely processed signs in geometric and decorative key.“
“Metropolis”, (2016), by Giampaolo Cataudella, for the following reason:
“The work is a detected surface, shapeless, in which the metal transpires within a reddish coloring, with grafts and scrapes and engraved signs, separated into two areas divided by a vertical slit, like a wound that cuts the work in the center. The sharpness of the slit contrasts with the randomness of the formal context. The synthesis is a soft calm light, like an underlying reverb, emanating slightly from the metal.”
The jury considered it appropriate to assign a special lifetime achievement award.
The idea of the award stems from the observation of the undoubted quality of the finalists, as well as from the importance of the selected artists. Some of them in fact have a remarkable curriculum.
The lifetime achievement award appears therefore as a prize that is independent from the competition, covering the artist’s entire activity and its particular significance in the context of the current art scene.
The prize is awarded to Valeria Gramiccia, an artist who lived from the inside out and with absolute importance the Italian artistic milieu of the last decades, both creatively and historically. She has collaborated in the scientific and organizational care of exhibitions and events of international importance. She was an assistant to the great contemporary masters. Today she represents one of the most consistent and refined testimonies of Italian art. Her registry is characterized by a light and safe mark, particularly in graphic art, including abstract articulation and dreamlike dimension, with a precious use of the color. She stands out simultaneously in the wake of the happiest tradition of the post-war abstract expressionism and a cultured conceptual art, developed as a reflection of a rare and poetic expression.
The Audience Award goes ex aequo to Elena Diaco Mayer for the work “Ritrovarsi in un riflesso” and Mostafa Rahimi Vishteh for the work “Sapere Sepolto”.
The jury, showing a deep appreciation to the organizers for the goodness of the prize and its remarkable level of involvement achieved at national and international level, wishes the best for the future editions.
Latina, 17th October 2016
PHOTO GALLERY
The setting of the exibition
Opening, 8 October 2016 with the participation of the Ensemble Blue Clarinets
Jury and Audience Award, 29 October 2016 – with the participation of Maestro Vincenzo Bianchi, pianist and composer
