THE PAINTING OF GIOVANNI FRANKO AS VITAL ENERGY

 BY PAOLO RIZZI

 Lyric image of Venice turns into  pure energy.This is the latest transition of Giovanni

 Franko’s painting.It could surprise:but the coherence is undeniable.From one side(until

 some years ago)there is a trasformation of Venice in color matter,like gothic-byzantine

 enhacement  of souch beloved city.The sparkle of polychromic mosaics;anxious succession

 of polifore windows;architectural pace of fascinated palaces.The same titles,also when picture

 was inclining towards magic abstraction,were indicating venetian topics such as “High water in

 Venice”,”Amphitheatric city”,”Fog in lagoon”,”Moon in the city”.

 This fairy-tale theme was availing of very fine taste of matter,almost fresco characterized by

 iridescent tones,curvilinear cadence from very clear relief.

 There was(I’m speaking about pictures that now we can identify as later works)attempt to come to

 typically geometrical Venice;it becomes almost the category of spirit.

 Let’s consider now recent works.The term that this time recurs frequently in titles is “energy”.

 It’s about the fusion between the plastical valuables(for example in the gothic windows lined up on

 palaces).The”windows” are spreading themselfs in the space in which the disorder is visible but 

 where even if with difficulty,we can  recognize mental order.That’s why Franko speaks often about

 “conceptual moments”.The gothic windows  are transforming themselfs in boats violently shaked

 by the storm,or(this is my interpretation)in palisades of shaken rhytm.How many times the clips of

 my daily work are spreading themselfs on my writing table and I’m observing curiously  before

 collecting them  in a small box.The impression is similar.I’m asking myself:it must be some kind

 of energy that has just slipped out to me and that turns chaos in to the order.

 Franko becomes demiurge that leads everything to the order.

 It’s clear that the painting of Franko has reached the  emblematical condition of energy fixed by

 pictorical material.”The time in the space”(this is the title of picture per square size)is indicating us

 a rotative movement where the groups of spalls noticed are spreading themselfs in the space,giving

 us The Illusion of something(time?)that seems to escape us in the space but that we are able to 

 recognize cohesion of beating.In “Transition of energy” we can notice the introducing in the

 recomposition of the space,the electrical blu that break the monotony of the trip towards infinite.

 Sometimes happens that all this doesn’t hold;that’s the case of “Energetic confusion”in which we

 can see triangles(that originally was gothic windows)vanish themselfs in the space;and it’s

 impression about I was telling before,and that’s breaking  of balance between clips spreaded

 confusedly on my writing table.The life is so;a continuous transition from order to disorder.

 The fact that even we ourselfs find it heard to recognize the two elements in contraposition.

 So we must turn our eyes in the top.In that point in the sun(a title of one picture is “Solar energy”)

we can find the perfect scansion.However the distance can become dizziness;and the colour-heat

can make us blind in the attempt to see what’s not possible see.

So everything is more clear.The painting is a tool through which we can try “to see beyond”of woad.

I’ve underlined this,also in the case of Franko,citing  the aphorism of Juan de la Cruz:

“we are here not to see,but not to see”.The difference between”to see”and”not to see” determines

our faith.The painting teach us to distinguish what’s true and what’s false;and that’s the vital energy

of inertia.At the end from the cosmic mass goes out at stratospherical speed a blue tongue that is

directed towards its”double”.Shall they meet?For sure.The picture of  Franko(entitled”Energetic core)

is itself a metaphor.We are waiting in a split second and the final bang will come.

The back is dark;but maybe the blue light will end to predominate;it will not be turned off.Where

is a true art,the hope survives.This is the case of Franko,where the quality of painting permits to shine.