Behind the joyful drawing style in black and white from the Italian artist Claudio Parentela exists an almost Freudian world, full of sexual symbolism, pain and passion. The black ink flows from his hand, the lines are set directly, almost autonomously onto the paper. They grow, get their shape and continue to visualize the artists ideas, memories and fantasies. When the artist is done, the lustful world created by his hand is staring at the artist, and his audience.
The Freud thing
This spontaneous drawing style, some will call it naive or childish, is rooted in two artistic concepts. The first one is the idea of using drawings to make your own subconscious visible and understandable. You know the Freud thing, all your suppressed feelings all the way back from your childhood are stored in there. A lot of artist from the previous century like Juan Miro and Dali used this method to create their art. And I like to look at the work of Claudio Parentela in this manner, kind of a figurative peinture automatique.
The second artistic concept that also has it’s roots in the past century, I guess most modern artistic concepts have their origin in those years, is the inspiration found in drawings of children. Artists like the Cobra group thought that only real spontaneity could be found in the drawings and paintings of children. To liberate yourself from the history of art, to renew art you should try to draw as a child, and your mind would become really free and capable of pure creation.
Why am I telling all this? Maybe because I am trying to explain the work of Parentela or even to persuade people ( the ones that will say, his work is naive, or childish ) to look again, to see the richness, the strong expression and the passion in his work. And let’s not forget the stories of love and pain his drawings are telling us.
