Romano Costi

A man a sculptor

On the small and lovely "Malvasia" bridge ( a name that evokes the sparale of the wines of the Veneto region ) in "vicolo Trevisi" bangs the sign of Romano Costi's studio.
Outside an elegant bronze "Diver" is caught in the action of splashing into the fast running waters of the "Buranelli" river, that winds its whay through the old houses of Treviso's historical heart: a part of the city that reminds us of the Venetian lagoon, uncontaminated and free from tourists.
In this surrounding the sculptor Romano Costi, master blacksmith, medal maker, draughtsman and collector has produced a large number of works. Here the artist continue to create new pieces, with the zeal that is characteristic of the grand tradition of the region. This is done with the confidence and humour of a man of the world: well travelled and enriched by a mixture of artistic and anthropological stimuli – in the footsteps of Venetian artists of 1900's such as Gino Rossi.
In the works of Romani Costi one can, even at first glance, detect a sort of sculptural eclecticism. This is a result of both his need to test his ability on techniques of the past and his attempt to verify how much the tradition can be used in the creation of the new, of the original and the unusual.
This approach has helped Romano Costi achieve a high level of professionalism. He is in total control of his technical skills wich burst forth in his sculpture, evident to all when exibited in private or public spaces.
Sculpture for the artists is not meant to be an interaction with nature: it is an imposition, a prevarication by man on nature, already violated by his many interferences throughout history around the world.
One could argue that much of Costi's work echoes elemento of past Masters: the abstraction of Bancusi; the cubist fragmentation of Archipenko; the primitivism of Arturo Martini and Marino Marini; the archetypal female image of "Mater Matuta"of the Mediterranean civilization; the archaic forms of Alberto Viani and Henry Moore; with occasional quotes from "anti-sculpture" expressions such as those of Giacometti; and references from Dada and Surrealism. Nevertheless the result is always original and exciting.
On closet scrutiny the artist reveals a stylistic coherence which relates closely to the current century's artistic expressions.
When examining for example, some of Costi's early bas-reliefs in clay ( academic exercises executed durino the years 1960-1962, such as the group of bathing female nudes ) one can detect references from the traditional paintings of the last century translated into plastic form.
In the same period Costi also produced some interesting new experimental still lives in bronze: "Work" and "Still life"both dated 1964.
These bronzes inspired by an attempt to understand and re-interpret artistic experiences of the recent past from Metaphysics to Nouveau-Realism, paying particolar attention to the historical Dada experiments of Man Ray and th "Ready –Made". He then moved on towards abstraction with the small bronze entitled "Le Pendu" (1965), a work of great expressive effect.
In this work, reflecting on the lesson of Arturo Martini regarding the simplification of the medium, Romano Costi pushed sculpture to the limits of its essence. In this sculpture as well as in the later bas-reliefs in bronze entitled "Living City", "Space" (both from 1980) and "Thought" (1981), it is the sense of time that predominates over the plastic volumes.
In these instances Costi's research into the deconstruction of perspective levels introduces more external quotes, some reminescent of Leonardo, as if they were scattered pages from his Atlantic Codex, resulting in a visual effect of "trompe-l'oeil" where the writing interacts with image both figurative and abstract, to be read, preferably, in a symbolic key and not in a realistic one.
During the 1980's Costi's sculpture moved towards a lager scale application of his favourite reinterpretations.
The Thinker" a bronze from 1983 (140 x 90 x 80 cm.) is the artist's most accomplished work of the period. It represents Costi's return to "purism" and shows an almost classicist revival. This egg-shaped bronze (in the elegant pose of a female figure bent forward bead between legs in an extremely finished and pure material) reminds us of earlier works of century, it shows the artist's skill in blending a natural representation within a structural form that brings to mind ancient symbology.
This ability to bring together and armonise ancient and modern; concepts and reality; closet and open forms, is without doubt Romano Costi's highest achievement.
The bronze "Motherhood" (1985) and the terracotta of the same year (not a preliminare maquette but a work in its own right and with its own expressive power) go beyond the obvious references of the Cubo-Futurist sculpture, reminding the observer of specific forms from the work of Ernst Barlach (1870-1938), and symbolic primitivism.
At the end of the 1980's elegant forms, softened by a pictorical plasticism, gave way to new strongly defined forms: two-dimensional silhouettes sharply cut into the bronze.
This is seen in the monumental work entitled "Timeless Meeting" (1985, casts exhibited in Sardinia, New York and Vicenza). This group of five geometric stylised giant statues appear as totems from an undefined mythological past. This group draws our attentino to its metaphysical and dream-like dimension, to wich so many aspire in our contemporary society.
Furthermore, whereas with "The Walking Man" (1987) Costi revives again the totemism of Giacometti, with "The Dancer" (1987-1988) the artist offers a work of extraordinary evocative power. The tall, slender, softly waving silhouette embodies the idealised image of dance, achieving highly symbolic values.
In 1990, as in his earlier work entitled "Holy Family" (1987) Costi created the large group "Composition" (4 metres in height), where again reappear traces of Henry Moore with the same underlying principle of organic germination.
This is not, as it might seem, a mere assembly of parts but, rather, a series of variations on the same theme: the sensual curve with no solution of continuity.
On the same principle has been produced the preliminary sketch in plaster for an allegoric-sculpture: "Homage to Pitagora" (1991).
In the final analysis Romano Costi's sculpture is worthy of inclusion in the top European modernist tradition.
It is the result of the work of a man and an artist who after years of research and experimentation with the lessons of the avantguads, has been able to absorb them and show through his work an ability to find the eternal roots of the poetry of the form even in the abstraction and in the geometrical play.

Bastia di S.Vigilio (Bergamo), Italy Marco Lorandi.
Translation by "D STUDIO" Literary Dept.

Bibliography

1974: article: "Des sculptures sur bronce de Romano Costi aux Cardeurs, in Aix", Aix – en Provence, August edition, pg 3.

1979: S. Tinaglia: Romano Costi, in the "Catalogo degli artisti: Veneto", Ist vol. (a – j), Unione Editoriale per la diffusione del libro, Rome pg. 361-362.

1984: G.Granzier: "Nel giardino svizzero di Shirley Bassey un bronzo – trevigiano -" in the "Il gazzettino di Venezia",March 14th, pg 11.

1986: article: London, in the "City Magazine International", Special, November edition pg 16.

1986: AA.VV.: Veneto, in the "Casa Vogue", November edition pg. 118 - 119.

1987: L.Talbot: "Shaping true values", in the "Art", May 22nd, pg 102.

1987: E.Manzato: "Le sculture dei Costi", a catalogue of the exhibition held at "Casa-Albergo Salce", in Treviso, June 4th – 28th.

1987: article: Romano Costi, a catalogue of the exhibition held at the "Tempra Fine Arts", London, May.

1987: AA.VV.: "Arte a Treviso: la Esposizione Biennale Provinciale d'arte contemporanea", catalogue of exhibition, Matteo Editore, Treviso, pg. 164-165.

1989: M.Marcucci: "Missione simpatia. Festa grande per il caro amico Peter Secchia", in "La Repubblica", Rome, September 15th, pg VI.

1991: article: "I tre volti di Treviso", in the "Spazio Casa", Rusconi Editore, n°3 march, pg.226.