Il Rosario Philosophorum di Anna Pennati
It is difficult to imagine confining more than two years of work that Anna Pennati has dedicated to the rose in a few lines or within the walls of an exhibition space. I believe, however, that the result is as exciting as the subject, which is obviously not to be understood only in a physical sense, but for everything that can be associated with the rose through analogy and experience. An incredible exhibition for the depth of the subjects, for meditation as for the great wines and the great thoughts; to sip slowly, not to become intoxicated by so much deep beauty. Works to be meditated on also because of the choice of dimensions, which take us back to ancient icons, holding prayers, canticles and rosaries. The rose in art is present in many authors, but perhaps no artist has ever dedicated so much time, passion and works to it as Anna Pennati; and we are happy, in Almach Art Gallery, to be the first to propose this event, with the certainty that it is a "new stone" for a "rosary philosophorum" which is fundamental to our common path.
"I plunged my face into the 100 petals of a rose ... and with my eyes closed ... I saw. The rose is not a flower but a vertigo; it is a temporal spiral in which to lose oneself. I have tried to go beyond the classical iconographies in order to perceive the origin of the origin, going beyond the known symbolic aspect and realising my 'visions' on the subject.
We owe so much to this flower
The rose is, in western tradition, the 'flower of flowers', the most representative, the most loved and the most sung about.
It has been an important symbol since ancient times. The Aphrodite of the Greeks who then became Roman Venus to whom the rose was consecrated
.
For Christianity, the female image of reference is of course the Virgin Mary and for this reason the rose became her flower and the Virgin in turn the Mystical Rose.
The Rose, then, as a symbol of the Mother, leads us to perceive, with its intense and unmistakable perfume, the essence of the Spirit.
In the XXXI canto of Dante Alighieri's Paradise, where in the form of a white rose like an amphitheatre the blessed souls closest to Christ sit, a place of absolute love.
We could quote it ad infinitum up to the most recent novelists or poets, sometimes trivialised in material terms, often sung about for its beauty, but always admired with respect.
We owe so much to this flower, for the inspiration that it has given us and that it will bring us, that perhaps we should stay, in silence, to observe, to feel, to perceive, to let ourselves be carried away.
(extracts from the catalogue)
Catalogue available
