Franco Panesi

Franco Panesi was born in Chiavari in 1949. He lives and works in Massasco (Casarza Ligure), where he chose to settle and set up his secluded studio in the Val di Vara, a space in which to cultivate the silence essential to his research. A reserved artist, far from the spotlight, he painted for many years only for himself, with few participations in group exhibitions, before deciding to share his work through solo shows and exhibition series. His approach to painting never assigns a single, definitive meaning to the works, which remain open to the interpretation and sensitivity of the viewer. The result is a language nourished by silences and questions, capable of communicating in depth with those who look at it. In an artistic landscape often dominated by surface appearances, his research appears authentic, intimate and remote from the clamour. His output moves through several phases without ever losing its authenticity: from the early views of the Ligurian landscape in the 1980s, elevated to symbol rather than description, to the anthropomorphic trees that become dancing, spiritual or tragic figures, and on to the most recent cycles in which painting and word intertwine. Trees, migrants, houses and feathers are recurring presences that become signs and metaphors, memory and questions. Feathers, light as dreams and fragile as life, evoke absences and hopes. Other works, dedicated to people who have passed away, tell of broken lives, continuing to reflect on memory and on the presence that endures beyond time. Likewise, an old house in his paintings is never merely a wall, but holds a soul and the traces of those who once lived there. Social criticism and existential reflection coexist in his work. The migrants and prostitutes who appear in it are faceless silhouettes, compassionate and universal figures that point to a fragile humanity in search of answers and shelter. Painting thus becomes an instrument of meditation on common destiny, on the illusion of freedom and on the limit that every human being seeks to overcome. Every painting is the fruit of meticulous care and of continuous experimentation, which bear witness to an unceasing research.