Biography
...Painting is the linguistic substance of Matteo Confalonieri’s work, the structure and methodology of his thinking. As a matter of fact, that thinking is articulated for example in his nuances of tone, in his silvery patinas, in the finishing touches he puts on a sign, on a detail, on a curl or an embellishment, as well, of course, as in the applications he makes of gold, of gold leaf. The process is a slow, introverted, painstaking one, like the work of a master cabinet maker, who “sees” the final result perfectly from the very beginning and lets nothing distract or sidetrack him, none of the alternative possibilities that open up suddenly, like red herrings cast across the track of his work.
For this reason, for all the reasons that make it appear to be remote and distant, Matteo Confalonieri’s work is actually very pertinent: for the very reason that it alleges to be out of date, that it stakes a claim to the silence of duration, or rather exhibits it in the space of the painting, as it stresses the value of slowness and pondering. Just as in the discourse, maybe the only one, that talks about us.
Martina Corgnati - Artcritic and curator
