‘Every portrait painted with passion is the portrait of the artist, not the model. The model is but the pretext. It is not he who is revealed by the painter, but rather it is the painter who reveals himself on the painted canvas'. This famous passage from Oscar Wilde's ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray’ encapsulates the sense and the essence of the artistic experience of Ivano Parolini, 47, who, with conviction, relies on direct dialogue to signal the meaning of his inspiration.
‘After studying at the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, in 1996 I started exhibiting at museum centres, foundations and private galleries. My interest is also in sculpture, installations, video and performance, generating relationships between the various arts, also with site-specific interpretations. I have always believed,' he adds, ’that the artist and the works he creates represent a whole that cannot be separated. Telling my work through a photograph or an organised website (www.ivanoparolini.it) is a mode that opens up multiple opportunities for contact, but I believe that concrete dialogue remains the most complete opportunity to express to others what I feel inside'. This is when Ivano signals his desire to open the doors of Casa Oschiolo, his home in the district of the same name in Orezzo di Gazzaniga. ‘I simply put up my paintings on the walls,’ he explains, ’to show to those who want to explore my inspirations and the meaning of what I wanted to express.
Ivano Parolini has been developing his artistic research since 1999, when he exhibited at Gamec in Bergamo in the exhibition curated by Vittorio Fagone, Mario Cresci and Enrico De Pascale. Chosen by Marco Cingolani for an exhibition at Ciocca in Milan, he has been the protagonist of important Italian and foreign exhibitions. In 2014, with the ‘Beauties’ project, he exhibited at Spazio Rosso Tiziano in Piacenza and in 2015 he proposed a themed performance at Expo, before presenting his ‘illustrated book’ in London, a unique piece inspired by Chiara Cecilia Santamaria's novel ‘Somewhere in the World’. Of 2016 are the installation ‘Relitti’ in the colony Sciesopoli in Selvino linked to the Shoah and the project ‘Anime’ in the Basilica of Gandino. Anime also had an antithetical sequel among Jurassic limestones at the Buca del Corno di Entratico, where Parolini exhibited ‘Trichierotauro’: a bone sculpture about 2.50 metres high. The performance ‘The Bride’ (denouncing violence against women) dates back to 2018, followed in recent years by the solo show ‘Beauties 2.0’ in Alassio, the installations ‘Flowers’ (dedicated to the Amazon Synod), the sculpture ‘Alzheimer’, ‘The Vitruvian’ (environmental sustainability) and ‘Astronaut’ (man and space).
A visit to Casa Oschiolo is an opportunity to ‘dialogue about art’ with those who are its protagonists and interpreters, and to discover a world of colours. Because emotions are at home in Oschiolo.