Partecipa alla creazione

Description

In 'Participa alla Creazione', Nicola de Maria painted most of the canvas with black paint. The bottom part of the work consists of a band of light blue in which an unpainted area lights up. There is a “hole” in the black part through which a light bluish-green colour becomes visible. The paint has been applied fairly thinly. There is a horizontal brushstroke visible in the blue and bluish- green colour. The black paint has been applied in various directions and here and there drips have run.

The title of this work (Participate in Creation) invites the viewer to see the image as the time at which the earth was created according to the Judaeo-Christian religion. Light is separated from dark, land from water. Order is created in chaos. The painting is at the same time both simple and complex. The horizontal division evokes associations with a landscape and the light blue and bluish green can be seen as water or air. However, the sky blue colour at the bottom of the painting is also confusing; it looks like the sky but it is in the wrong place. The “hole” in the black part can be seen as light breaking through a dark sky, but because of the colour, the association with water is more obvious. 'Participa alla Creazione' is an obscure example of De Maria’s work. However, the title is representative of his philosophy. He constantly created new worlds himself and invited the viewer to do the same.

De Maria’s work is generally exuberant and colourful as well as poetic and energetic. It can contain figurative and abstract signs and sometimes also letters or words. It radiates a very positive attitude to life. De Maria described himself as “someone who is writing a poem with fingers full of colour.” He is not a theoretician and does not give any explanations, but shows what he has seen and experienced intensely using images, usually with nature as a starting point. It is as though he creates the world again. In doing so he does not have any preconceived plan, but works on the basis of what he feels. The creative process is clearly visible. Sometimes De Maria allows the paint to flow, sometimes he uses powerful brushstrokes. In 'Participa alla Creazione' the horizontal brushstrokes in the light parts and the strokes in every direction in the black part reinforce the contrast between the two: light and order, versus the darkness of chaos.

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