Critical notes
C:> Surrealist painter
Critical notes
Michele Nave, surrealismo y actitud
"Michele Nave, from the dreamlike to the determination of the symbol"
Michele Nave constantly investigates, reinventing himself as his work unfolds, and works with precision and meticulousness. Yet the final result is a pictorial creation that cannot be labeled, the product of a savoir-faire that exhibits a certain compositional naturalness, despite the labor behind it.
Michele Nave is a surrealist painter who expresses spaces, dreams, concepts, visions, determinations, thoughts, reflections, memories, moments of silence, and journeys into other realities in his paintings, clearly influenced by Dalí in the metaphysical sense of the term. Yet he always maintains his own personality in the aspects relating to symbolism, some of which are characterized by a critical predisposition toward details and attitudes that go beyond simple anecdote and become part of a social discourse.
He is a creator who seeks the presence of the symbol, with characters who are their custodians, but, at the same time, an exaggerated and even-handed expression of a way of understanding painting.
Nave places great importance on graphics, drawing, composition, and technique, seeking aspects that highlight the overall concept through a subtle and specific elaboration of the idea.
The scope of his compositions allows him to articulate a discourse across multiple wavelengths, seeking to highlight the different aspects of a diverse reality, which flows through his ideas and concepts.
He seeks the presence of allegory, to reaffirm a certain enigma, but, at the same time, he is also a creator who allows himself certain concessions, seeking personal reflections on universal themes.
He is a painter who loves the classics, who loves the diversification of influences, to construct a plastic discourse in which the important thing is the influence of Dalí's surrealist paradigms, combined with his own and with the determination to be a creator born in Italy, in a specific reality and in contrast and combination, time after time, in a world that changes constantly.
Symbols are used to define moments that transcend dreamlike reality, transcending the traditional circumstances that compose it. This is the case with certain symbols and allegories that Nave employs, drawn from esotericism, which reveal the depth of its connection to the most intrinsic aspects of the theme.
In this context, the definition of the symbol is very important, as it prevails in everything that exists as such, both by its own extension and by its internal structure that maintains it as the source of the idea, and, simultaneously, as the basis for interpreting a reality that goes beyond the usual and known limits of the most emblematic aspects of existence.
Associazione Internazionale dei Critici d'Arte (AICA)
Joan Lluis Montanè
Michele Nave
"In dreams, everything is allowed. The veil of Maya is lifted, Plato's cavemen discover the sun, reality suddenly takes on a new form and greater meaning. An indecipherable logical thread appears to us and connects moments, brings objects closer, merges contexts, remote from each other. There is no value and no morality in dreams, but only a world of fantasy, which perhaps we would like to be real. With this idea, Michele Nave reveals in his works his inner dimension, dreamlike and honest, without criticism or rhetoric.
Michele Nave, born in Rivoli in 1975, is an artist with various interests: self-taught painter, cartoonist, professional graphic designer, amateur musician. He approached drawing and painting when he was still a child; without ever abandoning them, he moved to different cities in Italy, experimenting with new techniques and modern frontiers. He creates portraits, landscapes, comics and 3D illustrations.
However, it is in the surrealism and metaphysics of the early twentieth century that Nave finds greatest inspiration. He looks at the contrasts between meaning and René Magritte's significant work, Salvador Dalí's paranoid-critical method, and, with particular attention, Giorgio De Chirico's modus operandi. Nave combines elements of the past, citing the great ancient masters and classical myths, with elements of the present. He places them in a single, immobile, peaceful context, with bold perspectives and brightly colored colors. Sometimes he indulges in a light irony, especially when the canvas meets graffiti.
If De Chirico sought in art a dimension that distanced him from the real world that was not worthy of his interest, Nave instead wants to exalt that world and the time that was. His is a hymn to Italy, his homeland and his muse. He portrays the landscapes, the architecture, the sculptures, the emblems of Italian culture, giving them a new context and a different value. His most recent experiments also move along these lines, where he declares he wants to use only products of his land, be they material or human: on a block of concrete, the white and black, like faded memories, the faces of Totò, Sofia Loren, Vittorio De Sica; the only colors that remain are those of the Italian flag, in the few strokes of a barcode."
Art Historian
Vittorio Sgarbi
"Michele Nave" Fra tradizione e innovazione - vol.4
Michele Nave's painting presents itself as a very useful example of that hyper-figurative practice which constitutes the most convincing and mature response that Europe has been able to offer to the rising American hyperrealism that established itself in the 1960s.
Within these creative dynamics, our artist's work stands out for the happy combination it offers of a light-hearted and mellow reading of the surrounding reality and for an examination of the existing conducted with the fascinated eye of a fantastic perspective.
The result emerges of a painting that we could also define as 'timeless', a painting in which the atmospheres of that particular and very happy season that characterized the 'magico-realist' climate in the period between the two world wars return, finding interpreters of absolute interest, in Italy, for example, in personalities such as Ugo Celada or Cagnaccio di San Pietro.
These figurative dynamics have the property of presenting themselves as only apparently destined to provide a sort of perspective of distancing from the consistency of the phenomenal reality, but we must be well aware of the fact that, instead, it is precisely this sort of 'distancing' from the surrounding reality that provides the guarantee of 'realistic' anchoring, which allows us to turn into an epistemological opportunity what might appear "prima facie", as a sort of escape into fantasy or dreamlike perspective.
It is elements of naturalistic reference that constitute the backbone of his painting, proposing themselves as distinctive factors of a production rich in ideas intensely presided over by a descriptive intent of the objective consistency of things.
With such creative determinations, this painting reveals itself capable of interpreting its role which immediately appears as an instrument essentially aimed at knowing and not only describing the epiphenomenal consistency of the given.
A painting of importance and of notable interest also for the happy chromatic solutions it is able to offer, which allow the artist to develop with full meaning that volumetric prowess that things in themselves possess and which it is up to the painter to know how to bring out in the fullness of its own evidence.
Art Critic and Historian
Prof. Rosario Pinto
from the exhibition catalogue "Energia creativa, tra Astrazione e Figurazione", Venice, 2017
Michele Nave's inner dimension is the dream that allows him to soar into the visionary world of fantasy and transcend reality, expressing the life of the unconscious and automatic psychological associations. In dreams, we think in images, and since figurative art formulates images, it is the most suitable medium for bringing out the profound contents of the psyche, also represented through symbols. Thus, everyday objects become fragments of evocative intuitions floating in dreamy spaces. Nave places great importance on compositional technique in order to highlight both the general concept and the various aspects of an elusive, evolving reality. This, in my opinion, is the truest Nave, even though he has cultivated a variety of artistic interests since childhood, which he has enriched over time by experimenting with new techniques and modern themes.
Art Critic
Mirella Ruggeri
"With Michele Nave, painting is enriched with cultured quotations," Visions of the Contemporary - Energia Creativa II
Michele Nave's painting is enriched with refined references drawn from the vast repertoire of art history, from rock art to street art, from elements of Renaissance and eighteenth-century iconography to the twentieth-century avant-garde. There are also strong references to photography (Thomas Struth), graphic design (from Escher to the iconic cover of Pink Floyd's Animals), comics (Marvel heroes), and street art itself.
All languages Nave knows well. A reference to the past, therefore, subtly intertwined with forays into the present. His oil paintings blend diverse and profound symbolism to construct sophisticated narratives and semantic relationships that invite the viewer to reflect on. With a highly controlled compositional structure, revealing a profound admiration for De Chirico's architecture and silent spaces, Nave's enigmatic visions skillfully combine the influence of Surrealism and Metaphysics.
The dreamlike aspect, the suspension of time, the unlikely paradoxes, the shiny red apples that replace the heads of human figures in a Magrittian manner, often children seen from behind, disguised as little graffiti artists in the act of scribbling drawings that come to life on the walls... all contribute to the construction of allegories that express the controversial aspects of reality.
Art Critic
Federica Facchini
From the exhibition "OLTRE L'IMMAGINE" (Treviso, May 2018)
"Michele Nave focuses his research on the communicative power of images drawn from different cultural contexts and combined in a dialogue between past and present. The architecture of the Venetian tradition, the details of classical works, the references to the great masterpieces of the Renaissance coexist with the icons and symbols of contemporaneity in a space marked by a surreal suspension of time. The references to Surrealism and Metaphysics blend in the eclectic reworking of images and in the translations of meanings that open to different interpretations. In his Imaginary Venices, the various iconographic references appear in the clear and crystalline atmosphere thanks to the particularly accurate pictorial technique. The arches and Palladian entablatures punctuate the space into multiple levels, separating water and sky and leading the viewer's eye on an itinerary towards the luminous focal center. An existential journey is outlined until reaching the mysterious perspective fulcrum, a metaphor for consciousness and the self. Through A metaphorical journey, the artist rehabilitates the dimensions of dreams and imagination capable of overcoming conventional limits and generating new meanings."
Art Critic
Dott.ssa Roberta Gubitosi
exAequo - l'armonia del molteplice, exhibition catalogue Casa Cava (Matera)
Michele Nave, work on display "Error, 301 redirect to brexit.eu"
Entering the intuition at the origin of the pop art of the first American gallery owners, and reversing its intent, Michele Nave sarcastically publicizes the hegemonic delusions of power, promoting a paradoxical national creativity.
Here the event is amplified in its sarcasm, and in this sense does not allow for fiction, except for the becoming other of common naivety: making the mind work differently is the task of irony, which here plays on the failed actions that emerge from the surrealist text of the golden background of dreams.
Recognizing in the deformation of the dream its original meaning is the clarifying path of this panel that has the fake as the outcome of its visual construction, the failure of the comic superhero who nevertheless finds himself having an enormous weight.
The quality of power is also up for debate, the ability to listen, be patient, and then mediate, dialogue, especially now that the global emergency is exposing the fragility of international institutions.
Art Critic
Alessandro Nicoletti
(from the exhibition catalogue ART WALK 2017)
"Nave Michele" Neo-surreal expressionist flashes struck by dreamlike metaphysics.
A captivating style for a multifaceted and eclectic artist who embraces the ever-innovative tradition of art in all its possible facets, experimenting with ever-new techniques and modern frontiers that reveal the veil of maya to the inner dimension of the dream. A lucid, fantastic dream world we would like to penetrate, as if it were real.
If technologies and telematic monsters of poverty rage around us, making us live in virtual homes, the frenzy of modernity, his metaphysical experience reveals the current chaotic, unstoppable race, which engulfs us if we don't keep up. Michele reveals to us a dimension of Freudian subconscious metaphysics, as he was taking his first steps.
Apollo and Dionysus coexist in Michele, amidst the composure of balanced forms, with the exhilaration of euphoria in the works of his great predecessors, from Renè Magritte to the Catalan Salvador Dalí, all the way to the anonymous solitude of Giorgio De Chirico's soul, with his backdrops and faceless mannequins. His is an elegant visual combination, between the Passatism of the 20th century Enlightenment and the neo-surreal models of the present. A visionary, idealistic abstraction, a deliberate effect, with a simple, poetic comparison, for a sort of spirit of Art.
Art Critic
Edited by Prof. Alfredo Pasolino
Michele Nave
An exciting and narrative style, partly inspired by metaphysics and partly by surrealism, characterizes the artistic experience of Michele Nave, whose dreamlike and imaginative artistic painting style reveals all of his communicative strength and splendid sample collection of shapes, transforming the patterns of a world that finds in Magritte, De Chirico and Dalì its own protective deities.
An exciting and narrative style, which is partly inspired by metaphysics and partly by surrealism, characterizes the artistic experience of Michele Nave, whose dreamlike and imaginative artistic painting style reveals all of his communicative strength and splendid sample collection of shapes, transforming the patterns of a world that finds in Magritte, De Chirico and Dalì its own protective deities.
Art Critic
Silvia Arfelli
"De-signum" is the formal element that outlines Michele Nave's artistic operation
"De-signum," "sign around," is the formal element that outlines Michele Nave's artistic work. With strong intellectual and ethical motivations, he expresses his idea of reality. The sign is clear, clean, and of constant depth, and in color, a never material and often divergent support surface, we find the light of his inner vision and the solution between the dialectic of thought and emotion. With an idealistic cultural attitude, he represents space as a mental fact supporting a geometric game in which perspectives find themselves with particular accents and complete the compositional organization. Rational and imaginative horizons are articulated in balanced fields in which the details become epiphanies of different worlds. The refuge in the fantastic, in search of non-existent happiness, provokes those exciting suggestions, those altered perceptions that the brain reconstructs and for which it is shocked: there is no rhetoric but powerful creativity in the work with references to the "Stendhal syndrome".
In the surreal planes he places the physicality of the elements with a drawing skill that delineates the boundaries of a reality that is often within us, but which is not revealed to us. Descriptive and allusive, the artist combines emotions of figurative memory well beyond their meaning, while rigorously mastering the forms. The compositions narrate social issues with a sense of participation that is somewhere between ironic and painful, a sign of a faith in the values of existence and a capacity for ethical judgment, sometimes explicit, sometimes metaphorical.
It is a constant invitation to a thoughtful reading, to search for meaning beyond appearances. With a symbolist spirit, he shatters common expectations with a language that is sometimes surreal, always autonomous, often magical. He is an artist."
Art Critic
Francesca Lauria Pinter
CRITICAL PRESENTATION OF THE ARTIST, MICHELE NAVE, CURATED BY THE MONOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE OF ITALIAN ART
In his works, Michele Nave captures the essence of reality, the profound perception of realistic objectivity. The artist primarily represents the surreal, but also the metaphysical. We find settings that appear realistic but are actually dreamlike visions. The images are surrounded by mysterious atmospheres that are highlighted through the use of a perspective created according to different vanishing points. The images, composed of objects, internal and external elements, statues and mannequins, mythological characters, are created through precise drawing and uniform, flat coloring. The scenes come to life in timeless dimensions; each element is described with precision and detail, positioned next to objects that have no relation to each other. The composition is refined and balanced from a plastic and geometric perspective thanks to the relationship the artist creates between the chosen colors.
The chessboard figure often appears in Michele Nave's works, a sign of intelligence, an object the artist uses to designate a concept and a situation. The chessboard in art becomes a creative symbol as many painters are known as chessboards, such as Marcel Duchamp. Michele Nave explores different languages, styles, and pictorial techniques. His works compel immediate reflection, resulting in a harmonious and pleasant outcome. Elements and structures become the primary means for generating small provocations that dissolve through profound emotions. The artist confronts reality with his own unconscious, generating an internal battle between light and darkness, between the energy and darkness of the soul: a perfect dualism that allows the painter to create works that are both concrete and surreal, both finite and infinite. His works become projections of human thought; positive elements elevate the human spirit, surrounded by benevolent emotions that the artist assiduously seeks. Michele Nave's dualism is found in his depictions of the Sun and the Moon, often metaphorically represented through different figures, two celestial bodies that once again generate light and darkness. The works become a constant internal struggle that the artist overcomes through compositional fluidity and orderly coloring. Real images juxtapose with imaginary or unusual images, surprising for the simplicity of their elaboration. Michele Nave's works possess a formal and compositional balance, and flat coloring with luminous flashes and illusionistic effects create romantic atmospheres. Michele Nave draws inspiration from reality for the subjects of his works, drawing inspiration from painters of the past to create works that possess diverse characteristics combined with modern particularities.
A surreal and metaphysical painting style, poetic hints narrate the contemporaneity that surrounds us, where the artist seeks primarily to highlight the beauty of everything. The human figure is rare; in his works we find humanistic references, masks or statues that indicate historical figures, painters, poets and writers, but also animals and plants. When the artist expresses his creativity in the figure, we find interesting postures that highlight physical peculiarities, compositions of characters that take us back to distant times. In some works, the bodies are dressed in monochromatic garments ranging from blue to black. The characters' faces are sometimes covered with helmets, as if they were aliens on planet Earth. Michele Nave conceals their expressiveness to reveal the multiple meanings of the setting. The works express the beauty of life, the romance, and the profound emotions that humankind can experience.
ARCHIVIO MONOGRAFICO DELL'ARTE ITALIANA
Monographic Archive of Italian Art - September 2016
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