An exhibition of prints and mixed media by the artist Swietlan Kraczyna covering more than twenty years of a constant interest in the figures from the Commedia dell’Arte. In fact, some of the work on show in the Museum of Memory in Barga Vecchia has actually taken that long to complete. If you look closely at the dates on some of the work they show that they first started life in the 80’s as prints and have been added to recently to bring them to their final state.
He has also changed some of the traditional costumes of the figures, such as Colombina (who is generally dressed in white) and added the diamonds shapes of the Harlequin costume onto her own, transforming her into what could be described as a “Harlequina”. Maybe this way he has changed the story and the Harlequin finally does get the girl
“Living in Italy, one is constantly surrounded and exposed to its Arts and Culture. This constitutes as the major part of the fibers that make and shape our daily activities. The arts, culture and history become also ingredients of our daily experiences, names such as Michelangelo, Dante, Caesar, Hadrian, Machiavelli, Puccini, Vivaldi, Goldoni and Leonardo Da Vinci are part of our routine vocabulary. History, as revealed through it’s magnificent buildings, partially dating in time from the Romans, through the Renaissance and Baroque to today create the environment we live in.
The arts, literature and music are ever present, and an aria from Verdi opera or “O Sole Mio”, or “Bella Ciao”, likewise a Tarantella, a Pulcinella and Arlecchino become our “daily bread”. Therefore it is easy to comprehend and extremely natural that Arlecchino became part of my artistic vocabulary.
Arlecchino, along with Pantalone and Pulcinella (They also appear in my Oneiric Carnival series from 1981-82), are perhaps the most popular figures from the Italian 17th century street theater, known as “Commedia dell’ Arte”. Each one of these personages depicts in theatrical manner a specific human character- and the street actors, through improvisation, present them in comical situations, reflecting our real life drama or living situation. Arlecchino’s clothes are made up of multicolor patches, which over time were refined into the harlequinesque, colorful rhombic patterns, that are immediately recognizable. He is of course the most colorful and theatrical character. In the “Commedia dell’ Arte”, Arlecchino is also the most nimble and acrobatic, always in pursuit of his beloved Columbina, who leads him on, but always and forever escapes him.
Arlecchino’s pursuit of happiness becomes like a ritualistic dance, forever performed in time with infinite variations… and this is the subject of the human drama we all undergo in our daily living and personal pursuit of happiness. This is what I tried to embody into this series of images dedicated to this Harlequin/ Arlecchino, that I believe to exists to some degree in all of us.”
Swietlan Nicholas Kraczyna 2008
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Click on the link below to hear Nick Kraczyna talking about his exhibition (in English)
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