Artist’s Statement

Inner and Outer Space

I have lived and worked many years in the south of France, the land of Cezanne and Mont St. Victoire in Aix-en-Provence, Van Gogh in Arles, and many other equally inspired artists that ventured south for the light and landscape of Provence.

In the late eighties, no longer creating landscapes as I had done in my earlier days while learning to paint, I tried to imagine landscape from above, keeping in mind the impressionists and their works.

An impressionist image is normally viewed at a certain distance from the painting, but as you move in closer you begin to see lines, spots, brush strokes, and you may even get the impression that you are seeing an abstract painting. For that I used maps and satellite images, which at that time were quit difficult to acquire. I juxtaposed lakes, rivers, seas, oceans, cyclones, volcanoes, and forests with polluted cities, areas of industrial smoke, inner cities stacked with buildings and other man made structures, making nature seemingly artificial.

As you rise higher and higher you begin to see our planet like a dot in an Australian aboriginal painting. In recent years I have become interested in looking at things closer and closer, as with a magnifying glass. Seeing nature extremely close-up reveals the patterns of architectural structure in nature. As I zoom in closer and closer I am able to see the same thing as when I zoomed out in the opposite direction.

My goal is to simultaneously portray the inner and outer structure. I believe space becomes colour, and light sculpts that space. This is why as an artist I became interested in using light in my sculptures. I create with light and heat as another would use a chisel and hammer.

While working on a piece using the brilliance of discarded CDs and other transparent materials, I then add a source of light to the inner structure making that light transmit and disperse its rays bringing about a special interaction which dematerialises the substance through the interplay of light which, in addition, becomes functional.

Art has always been a vehicle of changing our way of seeing and understanding. I created my environment to live in harmony with nature. My house, garden, books, family and friends are my ocean of inspiration. This inspiration comes from what nature offers to us all. It has been said that Nature is the action of God, and Art is the reaction of Man.

Francesco Rimondi 2008