Itaca (Buonanotte Regina) - from Alfonso Filieri

[Marie Wintzer]

I am the very lucky owner of two Ithaca/Itaca booklets. You remember the first one by Katerina Nikoltsou, pamphlet of paper and sand. This one is from Alfonso Filieri and I was equally blown away when I opened the envelope.

Alfonso's work with paper is just amazing. Crumples and scratches and subtle layers of wax give so much depth to an already beautiful thick paper. The central part of the book and the bookmark contain dried petals trapped in between two sheets of extra-thin paper.

"This book
unique exemplar (... so hard to translate)
contains a work of
9X23cm
and a bookmark
"the mark of a departure, a detachment,
maybe toward another Island".
The image was made
with thin paper,
paint,
and
flower petals"

Rome, 2001

"Carta velo" and "Carta accopiata" are types of paper I don't know, really hard to translate. Can anyone help?

The poem perfectly matches the booklet (or vice versa). I would recognize Alfonso's verses among thousands.

"Goodnight my Queen,
to the immortal boredom
of Mannerism
I prefer dreams.

I am leaving
for the paradise
of king birds
on a raft
made of paper
with air
cotton
glue
color
wax"

Il paradiso degli ucelli re is rather difficult to translate, but just imagine an enchanted world where birds would be kings.
This work is kind of magic, I feel. Alfonso, thank you for sending such a precious piece of art!

[Marie Wintzer]

Thanks Alfonso, I couldn't get a translation for that. Great!

[Alfonso Filieri]

La carta velo è una carta per restauro di dipinti ed affreschi di 4 gr. al mq.

La carta velo accoppiata è una tecnica che io utilizzo per inserire i petali o altri frammenti di carta dipinta.

 

 

 

The paper is a veiled 

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

The beautiful world of Alfonso! His "Itaca" journey arrived in Greece last week...and is it not the most wondrous art!

There is a depth that I am still discovering. Great blog, Marie!

 

And it is an art that begs for light to shine through...amazing!

...and an in-deph search with details!

[cheryl penn]

MAN! This is great - I am waiting for one too - EEEK! The waiting - its a killer! FAB Marie :-) Artists like Alfonso, they sing to the inside.

[Bifidus Jones]

Wonderful expression happening here. The paper choice is enigmatic yet works for the Ithaca journey concept. (if paper could be described as wise, this is it!) And I know people still debate whether life imitates art, or art imitates life, but I think Alfonso's work is a world of its own. Lovely.