“In Ivan Cangelosi’s works, it is clear the presence of a brilliant and meticulous art. A new way of expression takes the form of a tapestry made of an embroidery of words. Entire novels and famous literary texts become, thanks to Ivan Cangelosi, marvellous artworks. These majestic artworks are the result of a long and meticulous work, of an unique charm and a totally original touch. A creativity where literature and painting merge, by creating something absolutely new, original, strongly contemporary, where the handwriting, and the letters that compose it, are at the same time substance and color of the artwork.
Ivan Cangelosi’s works demand, from those who observe them, an intellectual approach as well as a sensual one. In fact, the pleasure of their vision does not only regard the senses but also, and perhaps above all, the mind; ‘cause it is purely intellectual the pleasure to know that that picture that you are admiring and appreciating for its subject or its color, is actually much more than this: it’s an entire novel of 400 pages, or even 800 pages (such as the famous Thomas Mann’s novel “Buddenbrooks”) entirely re-written by hand within the space of a painting. The eye and the predisposition of the soul “feel” the artwork; the intellect transcends them both towards a higher and more complete pleasure.
Literature and visual arts then become one. A technique that reminds of pointillism where every detail is the result of a delicate and refined mind, ready to interpret any text in a visual key, turn the word into color and the color into images that evokes the depicted literary text. That’s why it becomes essential in this kind of work, the preliminary relationship between the content of the novel and the subject portrayed in the painting. The comprehension of the artwork will truly be complete only if one has previously read and thoroughly understood the literary text depicted in the artwork.
I would dare call Master Ivan Cangelosi, the portraitist of literature, the visual “Fairy-Taler” of the best literary works. His works show a complex personality which seems to be dwelled, with equal force, by instinct, passion, anarchy and foolhardiness, on the one hand, and rationality, discipline and exactness on the other. A dual, tormented personality, where the opposites find a sublime synthesis in artworks made by a complicated, rich and detailed line, made with incredible care, precision, method and patience. An art, that of Ivan Cangelosi, who deserves the applause of the world. In a context where it is difficult to emerge, Ivan Cangelosi’s works are unequivocal, as it is unequivocally his great originality.