Artistic Sketch "The Embrace" F Version

ARTISTIC SKETCH

Artistic Sketch "The Embrace" F Version

“… for the artist the artistic sketch represents the first true work of art… all subsequent versions, be they paintings or sculptures, are only copies of that first sketch…”

(Cesare Catania)

In this graphic Artwork the author represents in two dimensions the first version that will take shape in space in the following months: “The Embrace” F Version.

Year: 2023

Technique: Pencil on Recycled Paper

“… in this specific case the monumental sculpture created was a faithful copy of the sketch. It often happens that in the transition between the sketch and the creation of the physical work there are differences, mainly due to emotional reflections or simply related to the feasibility of the physical work. In this case, however, no… the sketch was already complete in its first draft…”

(Cesare Catania)

Description of the Artistic Sketch "The Embrace F Version"

Two people embracing each other: an image, an idea, a vision…

Thus the artist Cesare Catania represents for the first time the three-dimensional image of a concept that until then had remained closed in two dimensions.

The Embrace A Version and The Embrace B Version take on a new look, heads and arms are dismantled and recomposed again in a new version, more balanced in shape to be able to remain suspended in space once the physical sculpture has been created. it is incredible to note how the body is synthesized in one stretch, then created with a slender and asymmetrical main steel rod, then balanced by an ellipse which, crossing it, symbolizes the inseparable bond between two arms that wrap around each other. The highest spheres represent the shoulders of the two protagonists, while the heads, which in the pictorial versions had been represented with shapes close to cubism or informal art, now become the pivot around which this new style of Catania revolves: a pivot that sees the head at the center of his artistic and emotional attention, aimed precisely at enhancing the centrality of man with respect to the world around him.

L'Abbraccio F Version - Bozzetto Scultura - Dettaglio 4-min

L'Abbraccio F Version - Bozzetto Scultura - Dettaglio 3-min

Bozzetto artistico della scultura intitolata "L'Abbraccio" F Version di Cesare Catania — L'Abbraccio F Version - Bozzetto Scultura - Rev 2-min

L'Abbraccio F Version - Bozzetto Scultura - Dettaglio 2-min

L'Abbraccio F Version - Bozzetto Scultura - Dettaglio 1-min

Stylistic Insight

Geometry becomes a form of Art

In this graphic Artwork we appreciate all the love of the artist Cesare Catania for geometry.

“Breaking reality into simple polygons is the synthesis operation I prefer” (Cesare Catania)

Catania looks at reality from micro to macro and vice versa. It’s just a question of point of view… He is capable of “photographing” the world around him with both a “wide angle” and a “zoom”. All with extreme versatility and naturalness. This also reflects his love for cinema and photography.

His informal art, which over the years has resulted in Cubism, derives from a process of synthesis that leads him to represent the world around him through the juxtaposition of simple polygons. These are often generated by rotary motions of microscopic particles. The world of genesis merges with the world described in the state in which the artist sees it or imagines it, thus ending up creating a work of art that is abstract with respect to the time in which it is thought.

“… the time of origin of the matter and the moment in which the scene is portrayed end up almost coinciding, almost as if in my head the moment before the emotion and the moment in which the scene arouses my attention are almost coincident in an ideal absolute timeline…” (Cesare Catania)

In this “dance” between past and present, the “light motif” is geometry, understood as the material that contains all the forms used by the Italian artist to “sculpt” his contemporary art pieces.

Social Background

The Embrace Project

The digital artwork “L’Abbraccio G Version” clearly falls into the artistic trend that made the Italian artist famous, that of Abbracci. Not only an artistic theme but also and above all a social one, in which art is no longer just the end aimed at by the artist but the means through which to do good.

This dedication to the theme of Hugging was also recognized in 2023 by the American Association of National Hugging Day; January 21st of every year since 1986 has been universally recognized as World Hug Day and in 2023 Cesare Catania was appointed the only official ambassador in the world for the current year of International Hug Day.

A story that starts in 2015 and that from year to year finds its natural place in art and society. An artistic and socio-cultural project that brings people together thanks to contemporary art.

The Importance of an Embrace

The first work entitled “The Embrace” by Cesare Catania is the A Version and was created in 2015. A simple work, created with wax crayons on paper. The artwork entitled “The Embrace A Version” , despite its simplicity, is fundamental in the art of Cesare Catania. It is in fact the first of a series that will give life not only to a personal artistic journey of the artist linked to the specific theme but also to a high profile socio-cultural artistic project.

Starting from this first work and those to come, contemporary art exhibitions will be created by the Italian artist over the years. We mention just a few of them below:

in 2016 at the Swiss Institute of Lugano during the International Week of Italian Culture and Language, an event supported by the Embassies of the Swiss Confederation, the Presidency of the Italian Republic, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Consulate, the theme of the Embrace was addressed by exposing the the work of the same name (this time the B Version)
in 2018 one of Cesare Catania’s Abbracci was exhibited in Montecarlo at the Meridien Hub Gallery.
In 2019 The Museum of the Villa Reale in Monza hosts a retrospective of Cesare Catania, an exhibition in which among others one of Cesare Catania’s “Embraces” is also exhibited
In 2022 the Metaverse opens its doors to the Embrace for the first time, exhibiting among the artist’s many works, also two versions of the Embrace. The exhibition in Cesare Catania’s personal gallery within the Spatial Metaverse can be online visited from any device.
On November 17, 2022, the Embrace Project was officially presented at the Pirelli Palace of the Lombardy Region on the occasion of which two of Cesare Catania’s embraces were admired
in March and April 2023, during one of the stages of the Embrace Project on display at the Museum of Poetry in Piacenza, among the 20 exhibited works by Cesare Catania, 5 different Embraces by Cesare Catania are exhibited
In June and July 2023, 3 Abbracci were exhibited at Cesare Catania’s personal exhibition at Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, an exhibition entitled “The Embrace: the Laboratory of Emotions”
In November 2023, within the exhibition entitled “Artistic Sketches: where Inspiration is born” an entire section dedicated to hugs will be exhibited, including pictorial and sculptural versions as well as an unpublished version of the artistic sketch of the sculptural version of the Embrace.
From 20.04 to 24.11 2024 the exhibition of the sculptural version of the Embrace at the 80th edition of the Venice Biennale, inside the National Pavilion of Cameroon

… and many more …

Cultural Background

The First Embrace is never forgotten...

This means that Abbraccio A Version is considered a milestone in Cesare Catania’s contemporary art and in his artistic evolution.

An Artwork that not only represents the beginning of a collection but also of a thought of democratic art which for the artist will transform into an artistic and socio-cultural project, a project that will lead him to be nominated for 2023 Unique ambassador in the world for International Hugging Day.

The "Embraces" Collection by Cesare Catania

Different expressive ways of expressing the same concept. A hug is the body language that shows attachment, affection, feeling of union.

Immaginazione di Un Bambino — "The Embraces"

“The Imagination of a Child”

"The Embraces"

Artistic Sketch – “The Embrace” (F Version)

"The Embraces"

Ninetyeight – “The Embrace (G Version)”

Abbraccio E Version — "The Embraces"

Artwork 90 – The Embrace (E Version)

L'Abbraccio F Version Front — "The Embraces"

Artwork 91 – The Embrace (F Version)

"The Embraces"

EightyEight and EightyNine – “The Embrace” (C and D Version)

The Embrace B — "The Embraces"

Forty-Eight – “The Embrace (B Version)”

"The Embraces"

Seventeen – “Embrace” A Version

CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITIONS

The Embrace Exhibitions

The exhibition “The Embrace” represents a unique event because in addition to offering the painting of the “Embrace” (A and B Version) for viewing, it offers the public the opportunity to observe two new versions of the Embrace live (C and the D Version) belonging from an executive point of view to the most recent works created by the Artist, always in silicone and acrylic.
Specifically, the Embrace Project has a dual connotation, both artistic and socio-cultural. Furthermore, the evident social impact of the Project itself is undeniable, aiming straight at the values of inclusiveness and sharing, setting as its main objective that of speaking to people all over the world through a universal language, Art, and inviting every human being to emerge from one’s individuality to open up to others in a real and at the same time symbolic embrace.

The Project was born from the Artist’s desire to highlight the urgency and importance of a rapprochement between people, from every point of view and above all following the social detachment imposed in recent years by factors external to the will of the individual.
The traveling exhibition includes several stages.

The Project was officially presented on November 17, 2022 in Milan at the Sala Belvedere of the Pirelli Palace of the Lombardy Region.
The exhibition at the Museum of Poetry in Piacenza represents one of the stages of an exhibition that will visit various cities in Italy and around the world.

There are various stages of the L’Abbraccio exhibition, including the Poetry Museum in Piacenza, the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose in Venice and the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan.

In 2024 the sculpture L’ombra F Version, together with the Phygital version of the same, was presented at the Venice Biennale.

Artistic Background

The Process of Stylistic Abstraction by Cesare Catania

When we observe the artistic sketch and subsequently the sculpture of theEmbrace F Version, we must not forget that this version is the result of a long process of emotional sedimentation and stylistic synthesis. It all begins in 2015 – 2016, years in which the Italian artist created the two very famous version A and Version B. In that case, as we know, the first is an informal work of art, the second is closer to Cubism.

In the following years the artist carried out a long process of abstraction which led him to “liquefy” the colors of the two first versions, creating two absolutely incredible works entitled “The Embrace” C Version and D Version. In this diptych, Cesare Catania imagines literally “melting” the colors of the then latest B Version and recomposing them on the canvases using the “Silicone and Acrylic” technique.

Once this process of decomposition of shapes and colors has been completed, Cesare Catania decides to recompose the two protagonists following the same feeling that led him to create the first “Embraces” but this time using a more mature art, less focused on color and more focused on the essence and harmony of forms. Thus, first an artistic sketch and then a sculpture are born which envelop the two characters in space and time.