P a o l o P o r e l l i
"61° Premio Faenza 2020" - International Competition of Ceramic Art
exhibition cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Museo internazionale delle ceramiche
Faenza, Italy
Link to 61° Premio Faenza Talk
The installation “RefleX: figures for reflection” results from a collaborative project between Paolo Porelli e Maurizio Tittarelli Rubboli. Porelli’s sculptures represent a repertoire of archetypal figures created through the transformation of a stereotypical model into new sculptural originals. The figures are enriched by Rubboli’s metallic lusters of iridescent gold and ruby red. Playing on the double meaning of the word “reflect”, both as a reference to the surfaces that “reflect” and to the mind that “reflects”, the installation seeks to introduce reflection on the metaphysical nature of the figures that extends beyond conventional reality and penetrates into an interior dimension that is timeless, mysterious and symbolic.
For the 2020 Premio Faenza priority was given to sculptural works or installations that favour the innovation and convey a marked contemporary connotation. In fact, the Faenza prize has been characterized over the years by an avant-garde approach and topical choices of great contemporaneity: it must be the mission to pursue.
The International Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art, “Premio Faenza”, is the most important recognition of the world in this field. The main aim of the International Competition of Contemporary Ceramic Art is to stimulate the research, the renewal of techniques and materials, of shapes and expressive methods of ceramic. The implicit goal is to introduce to the world of art critics, but not only, the new tendencies and new ideas growing in the artistic and international design view.
Already Gaetano Ballardini, the founder of the Museum, highlighted the need “ to hold international competitions for ceramic production from the artistic and technical viewpoints”.
From its first regional edition in 1932, then national in 1938, the Competition recorded remarkable development. In 1963 the Competition was extended to an international level and in 1989 it became a biennial event.
The Premio Faenza is a great chance of showing, in Italy and abroad, the importance and the potentialities of this art, that is traditionally considered “minor”, but on the contrary, throughout its expressive force, it fascinates more and more young and well-known talented artists. In this way, they contribute to express the sensitivity, the doubts and virtues of these years, in an endless research of the new, of new languages that shape human events.
The Competition provides the widest scope for creativity: it is open to individual or groups of artists, there are no restrictions regarding the age or the subject matter and it allows the use of any ceramics technique in addition to the use of other materials as long as they are not prevalent. From the very origins, the Competition has always wanted to give individual artists or teams the widest freedom, and this is the reason why it had never had a precise topic. Furthermore the Competition had always paid particular attention to young artists who participated side by side with leading personalities. (http://www.micfaenza.org/en/concorso-internazionale-premio-faenza/)
