..
“…Examining the patient work of arranging the few chosen objects from
a refectory - aluminium bowls and plates, dishcloths, enamel jugs, tools
from an obsolete workshop - the careful placement of these simple things
reveals a search for compositional synthesis. This is evident in images
without flowers where geometric forms predominate, as in Wedge &
Protractor 2014’ or ‘Blocks & Compass 2020’. Here, the ensemble
takes on an almost sculptural aspect. The stylistic references even
evoke Tatlin’s ‘painting reliefs’ or some futurist works. The
compositional elements are repetitive, modulated in barely perceptible
variations. For this reason, his modus operandi recalls that of Paul
Cezanne or Giorgio Morandi. An absorbing process, in which the artist
observes the minimal change of atmospheric, temporal and coloristic
conditions on the subject to be depicted. Painstaking work, waiting for
flowers to fade, the light to change. Giulia Grassi notes that “what
interests him are the infinite combinatorial possibilities that can come
with each variation. The contrasts, full and empty, large and small,
light and dark, must find the right balance”. But, within the static
nature of CB’s structures, there is an element which, to borrow a term
from the world of theatre, we can call estrangement…”
Paola Formenti Tavazzani, 2022