Sculptures I 2010

'Le Fontane'
duo project with Emanuela Mezzadri

Old iron
100 700cm

 

 

Homage to Delft symposium 2009

'breathes art, like others breath oxygen'

Artist and promotor of fine art in her hometown in Verbania, Italy, and in many other places in the world, she has a vision on art that invites for reflection.
Her position is that for the promotion of fine art symposia are more effective than exhibitions. She speaks out of experience, not only she is an artist herself, not only did she spend many years as a teacher of art, but she has experienced some fourty symposia in many different countries from Holland to China. One of these symposia, in Alghero, Sardinia, had a latin title which resumes a program for art and for life itself, literally and metaphorically: Do ut des. I give, so that you will give also. Marisa Cortese breathes art, like others breath oxygen.

Recycle Art symposium 2008

'in the meantime our culture of using and throwing away has affected our civilisation.'

During her own symposium in 2002 in Italy, Cortese was already engaged with recycling. To her it is an answer to the consumer society. She feels that the culture of using and throwing away is diseased and has had a negative affect on our civilisation. She believes that even friendships and people are being used and thrown away instead of nurtured. As an artist she is aware of this process. She feels that it is important to know how to look at your environment and how to recognize things of value in the mountain of waste.

Cortese's work is representative of female iconography: she uses a combination of paint and words together with jewellery, pearls, textile and lace. The words have a meaning of their own or get their meaning from the materials. When she works with furniture that is beyond repair, she almost gets the feeling of being a surgeon who is able to give the patient new life. She works with her whole body. 'The application of physical energy is essential in my art.'