Andrea Benetti, a Bolognese artist, is exhibiting his solo show at the St’Art Gallery during March and April. The exhibition consists of around fifteen canvas works and, as the title suggests, is comparable to a small dictionary. Each work created by Benetti is, in fact, his personal explanation and definition of a concept, a word, or a theme. From the cycle of life to television, from ecological balance to the female figure, and further to media information and beyond, each work serves as an unpredictable and, ultimately, impossible explanation.
Why impossible? Because these are vast, overused, and sometimes even trivialized concepts. And it is precisely for this reason that they become intriguing in a logic of personal challenge: the meticulous, sometimes almost pedantic, Andrea Benetti aims to encapsulate them in a single image. One and only one—no series, no years of studies, no endless stylistic research on the same message. A single work that must be precise and as exhaustive as possible on inexhaustible themes.
To compress the infinite words, sensations, information, and contradictions surrounding these subjects, Benetti works in two distinct phases. The first is theoretical and philosophical, where he writes down his own reflections, which, if desired, can be considered an integral part of the final work. The second, naturally, is practical, where he creates the artwork. Once completed, the piece presents itself as a composition of geometric elements, both flat and three-dimensional, created using unconventional materials such as trimmer cords, springs, and mirrors. These elements are interconnected by cords and springs, elevated above the artwork by small hooks, casting shadows that become part of the composition. The overall result, formed by the elements and their relationships, is a vaguely recognizable figure, often highly stylized.
The use of color—rich in nuances, harmonious contrasts, and successful experimentation—plays a crucial role in the work’s aesthetic appeal. Yet, perhaps to restrain the seductive power of color and prevent it from overshadowing the conceptual significance, Benetti applies it sparingly, harnessing it to strengthen the connections between the various parts of the composition through a sophisticated interplay of echoes, references, and precisely calculated balances.
These intricate structures, sometimes even dismantlable, with an equilibrium that appears deceptively fragile, define all of his work, all of his definitions. Rather than reducing the universal themes he explores, they explain them through an extraordinarily broad perspective. Benetti seems to suggest that there is no single dimension, but multiple points of view and situations. Only by interconnecting them, by finding a point of balance that mediates all perspectives without excluding any, can we attain a comprehensive, complete, and ultimately truthful understanding of what we seek to define.