Roberto Perotti - Vestigia del sacro 21 - Enamel on canvas

To capture the architectural power of a sacred dome in a space of 24 by 24 centimeters requires a proud, introspective intent; one must be the architect of the inner self. Like a simple and sensitive man, complex and attentive to concrete facts. For ages beyond memory, men have built domes—simulacra of the sacred, sanctuaries of immense spiritual height—with octagonal or circular bases, following the path of the magical numbers three, four, and five, below the perfection of nine. The cabalistic eight contains the numbers mentioned, numbers of the divine and the human. They are essential to defining the organization of sounds as well as that of colors, which share the same vibrating essence. The eye and ear perceive the same world and make it an esoteric symbol, useful for daily life and the exchange of signs of affection.

The circle represents the natural divine; the division into segments symbolizes the humanization of the divine, materialized and reduced to our dimension, to the small dimension of our eyes, of our senses. Omar’s Mosque is crowned by a golden dome that sparkles in the sky and rivals the sun. St. Peter’s Dome shines in white marble. Do they remind you of the Holy Sepulchre or the sacred mountain? The circle, square, and cross are at the center of the fundamental symbols that reveal the cosmos and are at the same time the real world evident to experience. Beneath the dome of the sky there is a center, the hearth of movement, the one that originates and gives motion to the manifold, which attracts the convergence of optical fire, the force of the gaze, the attraction of the rays of the wheel, the mobile and variable symbol of foundation, the support of every force that escapes from the center or is drawn toward it. At the center stands the totem; it is here that primordial revelations and the repetition of initiation rites unfold. It is the sacred space par excellence that precedes and guides man’s experience in the world, both inner and outer. The center leads out of the labyrinth; it is the organization of chaos, giving meaning to the march of knowledge.

Men of every age have rebuilt the original hill, the Greeks’ cosmic omphalos, the navel of knowledge, a source of doubts and certain answers, a religious stone. Perotti digs into his own self the memory of the myth of the humanization of the divine, repeats the analysis of form many times, varies its organization of colors, makes an abstract mysticism of it, breaks down light and materializes its quantity of color, replicates the placement of bricks in the building/construction of the dome. He presents it again in the iris and in the multiplication of color combinations. He is an abstract and material painter, a painter of the sacred symbol and of pagan earth, which lends its substance to colors. Earth is lapis lazuli, earth is ochre, earth is gold, drawn and dug with effort from its bowels to melt in crucibles, earth is the white of the clouds and the green of the herbs, like the red of fire and the blue of the sky.

His story is personal and public; his story is the guide toward the mystery of the sacred exploded in the combination of colors, the sign is soft and has its own weight of meaning. The arch tends toward the sky as the psyche tends toward the inner infinite, Perotti’s brush is Kafka’s pen that digs into the unconscious, a powerful construction of scientific and literary invention. Beneath the dome stand the faithful in adoration and imploring; above it are the sky and the sun, everywhere divinity. Perotti places himself and places us beneath the sacred dome to discover the essence of knowledge (inner?). Only in the abstract rendering of the true, which still powerfully allows one to glimpse the essential forms, is there no decadence, but expressive power; there is no turning inward upon oneself, but extroversion toward others in need of understanding. That of Perotti is a call to the sacred through the palette of the rainbow-arch imagination. The rainbow that cuts like a flash across the blue dome, spreading it out before the eyes of the viewer.

One must ask whether Roberto Perotti has answered all the questions he is able to ask himself. The hope is to have a negative answer, because his search—if it does not stop—can lead to the sublime.

Gianluigi Corinto

The transaction takes place with maximum security for both the seller and the buyer. We take care of the conformity (provenance, authenticity, state of conservation) of the work and handle the shipping.
Returns are possible no later than 14 days after receiving the order.