Daniele Pario Perra
dal 17/1/2006 al 19/2/2006
Segnalato da
17/1/2006
Daniele Pario Perra
Altes Spital Solothurn - Kultur & Kongresse, Solothurn
The artist created a bust of the french writer and philosopher Voltaire which is based on a sculpture by Jean-Antoine Houdon. His interpretation gives us an ironical commentary on the dangerous developments of our own times. With this work he succeeds as both an artist and as an apostle of the enlightenment.
Audible silence - Democracy sleepers
Curated by Anna Burkli
An arrangement is easy to establish. Daniele Pario Perra created a bust of the French writer and philosopher Voltaire (born as Francois-Marie Arouet 1694 to 1778) which is based on a sculpture by Jean-Antoine Houdon. This latter bust is today on display in the Louvre and shows Voltaire between his return to Paris, when he was celebrated with many honors, and his death shortly afterwards. Probably in connection with these celebrations Houdon then created several versions of the bust.
The plaster version from Daniele Pario Perra is a copy of a marble bust which, although showing Voltaire with a wig, is in other respects not idealized. Especially striking is the light we seem to see in the old mans eyes and his grin (sardonic, worldly, ironic, tired?) This is where Perra begins. He shows his Voltaire with a knife in the back but still with the smile on his face. His Voltaire is wounded but does not struggle. Even had the wound been mortal, he would have died with a smile on his lips so as not to give satisfaction to his assassins. Voltaire’s intelligence triumphs in the face of the attacks of his enemies.
But who are Voltaire’s enemies? Is it one man, a group of men or an entire society? Daniele Pario Perra sees the state in our time as having been infiltrated by the church, which thus contributes to maintaining social inequality.
This is a dangerous development leading us back into a medieval, prevoltarien culture. This is a tendency Perra sees in every European society. In a political climate that raises mutual insults and slanders to a daily event it becomes now, more than ever before, necessary to support visionary and innovative political projects. As members of society we are all responsible, whether we will or not, if we abandon the field to those trying to return us to the dark ages.
Voltaire convincingly and with much irony criticized his times. He stood for his convictions: for the freedom of the individual and for the power of reason. Not least of all, many of his ideas have contributed to the social progress of our society.
Voltaire is both the icon and the metaphor of the Enlightenment. The interpretation from Daniele Pario Perra gives us, as did Voltaire, an ironical commentary on the dangerous developments of our own times. He stands in the tradition of Voltaire as a cultural critic in that he points out, with humor, the failures of our society. With this work Daniele Pario Perra succeeds as both an artist and as an apostle of the enlightenment.
Opening: January 18, h 19.00
Altes Spital Solothurn
Oberer Winkel 2 - Solothurn