Accord / Interactions

By Annamaria Consoli and Leon Akwadal

Curator Cecilia Paolini

In these extraordinary times, which have imposed a period of restraint to which our distracted reality has had to adapt, storytelling has remained, as it often does, the main tool through which transformation is tolerable and which, on the other hand, has not led to madness. Just to celebrate the meaning of storytelling, the exhibition Accord / Interazioni is the wonderful story of two artists, two minds, two ways of creating, that is, a man and a woman who met and together decided to follow the complex path of creation, a way of life that is more than multifaceted. Annamaria Consoli has been transforming metals and precious stones into jewellery since she was a teenager. An art school and proper training with master goldsmiths completed her classical education at a time when electronic devices did not yet exist: the art of goldsmithing requires patience, slowness, concentration and a great deal of technique.

Her iron discipline has earned her recognition and respect; her profound knowledge of materials has led her to work with pieces from leading fashion houses that are difficult for the general public to imagine, condensed into objects that may or may not be discreet, elegant or rich in rare materials, created and transformed by her care. But it was precisely this technique, this discipline, that Anna Maria long felt was insufficient to satisfy her need to create.

About three years ago, Leon Akwadal’s vibrant painting caught Annamaria’s eye and captured her imagination: the fluid and daring combination of colours, composed to deceive the eye with motionless movement, the canvases worked like iridescent textures, sometimes similar to raw linen, sometimes as fine as silk, combined with what could be precious lace, were the image of the kaleidoscopic creativity that Annamaria was looking for. Fate or destiny: it was during an exhibition at Artgap that Annamaria saw Léon Akwadal’s works for the first time, and consequently, the painter saw her for the first time. For Léon Akwadal, his interest in Anna Maria was immediately personal, captivated by her personality, but the game of seduction was slowed down by the desire to get to know each other better, to make the occasion of their meeting an important one. Thus began a partnership based on understanding, friendship and work. This led to the Konzo Konzo project, which is the union of their respective creativity, the interplay of mimesis between Léon Akwadal’s painting and Annamaria’s goldsmithing.

It was she who suggested working together on a project that would help her unleash her creativity and strengthen, through inventiveness, the technique that she felt was important but at the same time insufficient. The results of this research are on display: six works, each harmonised by assonance or a delicate balance of interpenetration, sometimes played to the rhythm of a repeating sign, sometimes on colours and surfaces juxtaposed by contrast. One is not the translation of the other through a different technique: rather, it is the sign of a gradual approach, of an understanding of the technical means used by crafts as diverse as painting and goldsmithing. The two works chosen for the event poster are emblematic: a quadrangular graphic element that repeats itself infinitely on the canvas, in various sizes and shades, emblematic of a group of houses seen from above, clusters of houses, favelas, cities inhabited like a gigantic human anthill, at the centre of the pendant created by Anna Maria. A transparent stone shines: a symbol of the beauty of the people who live there, transparent to reveal the skin of the wearer, who thus becomes the custodian of this humanity.

Beauty then passes and finds its rightful place, the human in all its components and no longer the jewel. It was at Artgap that they met, and it is fitting that Artgap should host the first exhibition of this experience of intellectual reflection and intermedia creativity. The friendship that binds us to both is thus strengthened on this occasion: astonishing for the quality of the works on display, even more precious for the edifying story of friendship, of seeking out others and of sharing that leads to oneself.

 It is one of those stories that is good to know, one of those narratives that set the pace for a late spring afternoon, when you can smell the scent of life reborn and fears disappear like shadows in the heatwave, pain gives way to tenderness and colours remind us that our experiences are fundamentally of the same substance as precious stones.