«God is day night, winter summer, war peace, hunger satiety. He changes like fire, when it mixes with perfumes which takes its name from the scent of each». Heraclitus.
David Benforado works in the old uninhabited village of Tratalias with a series of large canvases exhibited in Sa domu de tzia Giuannicca, a traditional stone and mud house, so called because of its old owner. The pictorial body is made up of a group of abstract paintings, made with oil paint on linen canvas, starting from colors that the artist creates from pure pigments, using ancient techniques. The work that welcomes visitors at the entrance to the house, Goats and the abstract truth, occupies the entire wall and represents some goats scratched on a dark landscape: their enigmatic gaze refers to a reality that we cannot perceive, to a world inaccessible to us. The mystery of pictorial abstraction therefore takes on meaning in the reality of the symbol – in the etymological meaning of sum-ballein, to put together, to throw together.
During the opening, in the courtyard adjacent to the house, Benforado has invited musicians Christos Barbas (ney, kaval, bagpipes, voice), Peppe Frana (ud, rebab) to present original modal compositions. In the second part of the concert Carlo Spiga (launeddas, throat singing) and Carolina Casula (launeddas, Sardinian traditional instruments) will join with Sardinian and Balkan melodies
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
David Benforado, De Terra e de Bentu (Da Terra e Vento), 2021, Tratalias (SU), Sardegna. Ph. Sara Deidda
MY WORK RECALLS THE ELEMENTS OF THE EARTH, THE SEA, THE SKY AND THE WIND AND MY PERCEPTION OF THE TOPOS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN. THE WEALTH OF MUSICAL TRADITIONS FROM SARDINIA AND THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN IS AN INFINITE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR ME
In his painting, David Benforado (Athens, 1977) conducts the visitor into an intellectual exercise of reading through colors. These hold the visitor’s gaze and invite them to discover what is hidden in the abstract expression. Music is also an integral part of his work: for the past thirteen years he has studied the ney, a Turkish flute that originates in the eastern Mediterranean region. The ney provided a spiritual and mystical affinity in his perception of the Mediterranean, becoming a fundamental element of projects and performances. In 2015, he exhibited at the Jewish Museum in Athens, and in 2018 at the Contemporary Art Museum of Crete.
THE ARTIST WORKS IN THE OLD UNINHABITED VILLAGE OF TRATALIAS WITH A SERIES OF LARGE CANVASES EXHIBITED IN SA DOMU DE TZIA GIUANNICCA, A TRADITIONAL STONE AND MUD HOUSE, SO CALLED BECAUSE OF ITS OLD OWNER
Tratalias is a Sardinian village of 1,024 inhabitants in the province of Carbonia-Iglesias, which is 30km away. It is located in the Sulcis region, on a hill in front of the Gulf of Palmas. Every year, on the patronal feast day dedicated to the Virgin of Monserrato, the statue of the Madonna, normally kept in the Romanesque church of the same name, is transported on a tractor «dressed up for the occasion», holding blankets, sheets and precious carpets.