As part of his ‘Soul of the Wall’ series,Italian artist Eron, travelled to Cevo, a small town in the Camonica Valley invited to take part in the Wall In Art project, for which he painted this stunning mural commemorating the history of the village, as well as to bear witness to the tragic nature of war.
The mural is the poetic fusion between painting and optical illusions inspired by the perceptual phenomenon known as pareidolia (the human tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern).
The ghostly figures of those who lived and worked inside the building emerge through the soot stains depicted by the artist, who created a balanced composition that evokes the fire occurred in Cevo on 3 July 1944. On that day, the small town was almost destroyed by an arson committed in retaliation for partisan activities.
In the foreground is the evanescent face of Maddalena Bazzana, who worked as a teacher in that school. Behind her, poignant scenes related to the events of the Resistance and the Great War come to life: teacher Bartolomeo Cesare Bazzana (her father), an authoritative leader of the community and a partisan, is portrayed during a tragic document check; on the right, a soldier is holding his lover for the last time, whilst a lone Alpino soldier is climbing to the front line.
These touching scenes are filled with tension, as not only do they show the moments that come before the absolute horror of armed conflicts, they also open the way to an understanding of the meaning and consequences of war. With their vibrancy and their symbolic value, the white doves that fly and flee from the darkness left behind by the fire appear as the answer to the question raised by the mural: they are the message of peace that ERON sends from a village that knows the brutality of war all too well.
About the artist
The visual language of Eron, a pioneer when it comes to Italian graffiti, has evolved during the last years adopting a unique figurative style. His work addresses social issues in a way that has put him as one of the most interesting artists within the contemporary urban art scene today. He has painted and exhibited all around the world including: Chelsea Art Museum (New York), Venice Biennale, Horizon One Gallery – Museum of Modern Art (El Cairo), PAC (Milan), Civic Center Ozumba of Lagos Nigeria), Blue Project Foundation (Barcelona), MACRO (Rome), NuArt Festival (Norway), Hamlet Festival (Denmark), Palace of Exhibitions (Rome), Italian Cultural Institute (New York).
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
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