Paolo Serra

The immediately appealing aesthetic effect of the monochrome geometric figures, the striking contrasts of color and material and the perspective effects, but also the execution based on a deep knowledge of traditional techniques and, in particular, the combination of mathematical and scientific principles with effects left purely to chance, make the works of Paolo Serra, born in Morciano di Romagna in 1946, artistic objects that not only deserve to be looked at, but also examined more closely.

Circles, squares and rectangles are the preferred motifs in Serra's work. This preference for the very shapes that Andrea Palladio described as ideal in his Quattro Libri dell'architettura in 1570 cannot be a coincidence for such a connoisseur of the art of past centuries.

In fact, the preparation of paint with pigments obtained from plants and minerals, the processing of lapis lazuli and malachite, the production of egg tempera, oil paints and the production of wooden or canvas supports are reminiscent of artists' workshops of past centuries.

Paolo Serra's historical interest should not be seen as anachronistic. On the contrary, it is precisely the recognition of the importance of the artistic heritage of the past and the integration of a southern culture characterized by mathematics and science with a northern culture strongly dedicated to the study of light that enables the development of a very personal modern artistic expression.