Make-up

1994 — New Italian Paperback. 4to. (30 x 21 cm). In Italian, English and Turkish. 51 p., color and b/w ills. The exhibition of works by the Venetian artist Gianmaria Potenza at the Museum for Turkish and Islamic Art is the outcome of an art that establishes relations. Potenza comes from Venice, a city doomed to bear the burden of international tourism. He is an artist who clearly opposes the modern lack of time and the continuous impoverishment of human relations. The conservation of the historical context and a unique culture undoubtedly brings benefits for the economics of tourism. But clearly Venice must not be conserved for the purposes of tourism alone. The physical and cultural context of the city assumes greater importance with every passing day and especially for artists like Potenza, who have made such an important cultural contribution. Potenza removes cultural values from the vicious circle of economics as he continually strives towards a visual and spiritual discourse, people must take time to comprehend how tradition may still be identified in the contemporary. Potenza is not only the keeper of a tradition, he is a keeper of time itself. The picto-sculptures at the Turkish Islamic Museum are just one series from his rich creative outpourings. The works consists of an almost infinite number of interconnected small black wooden cylinders and cubes creating a definite textures.