Calvario dell'umanità

"Calvary of humanity" (ink and watercolor pencils)

Colored flowers, placed at the center of the work, give way to a scenario, we might say, spectral, where the pain and uncertainty are expressed by the barren landscape, while the crosses and almost stylized human figure in the act of asking a crown on the head, are the elements that show in Salvatore Gerbino the existential dimensions of man. The tonal variations of color and of the subject become genesis of a figure which rises to a symbolic connotation and make expression of a set metaphysical, from the moment the only trace well defined over the flowers are the towers. Salvatore Gerbino crosses the threshold of reality to grasp the existential, giving the user a dreamlike dimension, without losing the charm figurative and symbolic. The focal points of the work are different: the central human figure, the crosses just written, the desert landscape, the bare trees that rise into the sky. Jews are concentrated in the visual content, because they show the world the pain of the thorns, the cross, the suffering, but also of life as opposed to death. Birds, at the base of the human figure, reminiscent of the symbol of strength that inspires men to wisdom, and therefore thought that feeds them and raises them to attain knowledge. Finally, the crown, besides indicating the Maiestas domains, also marks the symbolic passage to a new state of existence, from Calvary experience the serenity of life. The work effectively sharpens the sensitivity of the observer, which focuses towards the central figure. This leaves highlight the delicate coloring through a convergence of timbre and becomes expressive power, you crux of penetrating current messages, such as the pain of humanity.

ENZA CONTI,
art critic and director of the Quarterly "The Banquet" - Castiglione di Sicilia.